


Caprice

by apotts



Category: South Park
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-05-18 15:38:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5933625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apotts/pseuds/apotts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tweek & Craig have been a 'pretend' couple since childhood, but ongoing confusion about their 'true' sexuality has kept their relationship from moving past the best friend stage. Both boys have started needing more from a relationship. What happens when Craig's hormones, Tweek's emotions, Cartman's interference, and Damien's vendetta start forcing the issue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: When I started I had not decided if I wanted to do side-pairings, since I now know that this story will include a Kenny romance subplot plus other minor romances/triangles. I wanted to give a heads up for new readers. I would put it in the summary, but it only allows a certain number of characters. I have posted a complete list of pairings in the note on the bottom of this chapter in case this is something you would like to know before starting this story.
> 
> Summary updated to be closer in tune with my direction of the story.
> 
> Hello Everyone: This is my first South Park fic, inspired by the Tweek X Craig episode. It basically came about, because my mind keeps obsessing over what happens to the two boys in the future. So this will be a Craig and Tweek pairing, obviously boy love, and includes smut, and vulgar language. It will include a Kenny romance subplot, angst and love triangles. Possibly even a dark moment or two, but nothing too dark.
> 
> Caprice

Caprice

Chapter 1: Prologue

It's early summer in South Park, Colorado, and for the past week a relentless heat wave has been smothering the town with record breaking triple-digit temperatures. The late night sky is clear, a full moon shining brightly to illuminate the shops and houses giving South Park the deceptive appearance of a post card perfect small town. Fortunately, tonight they've been granted a light breeze, inspiring most of South Park to crack open their windows, and in the case of Craig Tucker there is also a red Vornado table top fan perched precariously on the small ledge of his window sill.

Inside his bedroom, seventeen year old Craig Tucker is sleeping in the queen sized platform bed that his parents bought him when he turned sixteen. At six foot four he had grown too tall to remain in a twin bed, so instead of the new bicycle that he wanted he ended up with new bedroom furniture. Fortunately, he faired better for his seventeenth birthday, when the coveted carbon-fiber mountain bike that he had been pestering his parents for arrived on his doorstep.

Craig is dressed only in a pair of navy blue boxers, which are damp from sweat, and sticking to his sleek skin uncomfortably. He kicked off his thin summer blanket early on, because frankly it was too damn hot for that shit, and his long trim legs are twisted around an old Terrance shaped body pillow that has seen better days. His sleep is fitful, and occasionally he squirms about restlessly, letting out gentle moans and groans, as he struggles deeply within a very vivid dream. Suddenly, his body tenses up, his legs tightening around his body pillow for a moment, before his eyes shoot open, glazed, and bewildered. His chest is pounding, as he stares, anxiously, around his moonlit room.

"What the fuck?" He lets out in a small thick whisper, as he kicks the body pillow off of the bed, and sits up shakily. "Seriously! What the fuck?!" he repeats, a bit louder this time. "Why is this happening to me?"

Craig Tucker considers himself to be pretty normal, unlike the rest of his South Park classmates Craig prefers activities that could be consider boring. He favors bowling to dancing, bicycles to sports cars, and movie night to just about anything else you got. In fact, up until that whole Peru incident in 4th grade, Craig grew up feeling like he was a background character in someone else's life story. Craig was that 'other' kid, just a simple child who hid behind a blue hat and liked to flip people off. He was always part of the crowd, but never the center of attention. At one point Craig was even convinced that he was adopted, because his father never gave him an ounce of affection. Still Craig was content with that life, or so he told himself, until his 'boyfriend' happened.

When Craig was ten years old he was suddenly, and maliciously, outed in front of the entire school by a little bitch named Wendy Testaburger. For some reason, which Craig never really understood, a group of Asian girls had started drawing weird pictures of Craig in compromising situations with Tweek Tweak, another boy from his class.

Truthfully, the whole thing was so confusing, because Craig was certain that he was straight. Okay, okay, so maybe he wasn't 100 percent certain, since to be honest the chicks at South Park elementary were a pretty scary bunch, and Craig found most of them to be rather ugly, plus girls kind of stank. This was something that Craig learned after Token and Clyde dragged him to a stupid whore party a Bebe Stevens' house. That turned out to be one of the scariest nights of Craig's entire life. He was chased down, tackled, and nearly molested by a revolting dark haired girl who smelled something awful. Craig had nightmares for weeks after that, and to this day Craig isn't comfortable going to Bebe's parties, or being alone in the same room with his female classmates.

Regardless of his distrust of the South Park chicks, Craig was still fairly certain that he was straight. Unfortunately, the rest of the town was not quite as certain, and in the usual fucked up style of South Park everything pretty much escalated from there.

Tweek and Craig both insisted that they were not gay, but absolutely nobody believed them! Even Craig's own father was convinced he was gay, and one night he came into Craig's room and told him that he accepted him. His father loved him for being gay. It was the first time in Craig's entire life that he felt like his father cared about him, and that moment was sort of life changing. Craig decided that if it made everyone so happy for him to be gay for Tweek, the easiest thing would be to just go along with it, but he swore to himself, and also to Tweek that he was still straight, and he would NEVER actually be gay!

It's been seven years now, and Craig and Tweek's fake romance is still going strong. The truth is Craig doesn't really mind pretending to be boyfriends with Tweek anymore, he cares about Tweek a lot, and he loves hanging out with him. He likes it even more than he likes hanging out with Clyde and Token, and he really likes hanging out with those guys, they're his best friends.

The only trouble is, recently, Craig has started to have these really vivid erotic dreams. He understands that it is normal for boys to go through this, because Clyde likes to discuss crap like that, complete with play by play narrations that tend to drive Craig and Token up the walls, but Craig's dreams are a little different. Unlike Clyde, who has wet dreams about females, the co-stars in Craig's dreams tend to be male. Usually the guys are faceless, or at least Craig isn't able to remember enough to attach names to his nocturnal fuck buddies, but occasionally it's someone he knows.

Tonight Craig's dream involved Eric Cartman! As Craig sat in his bed staring resentfully down at his damp boxers he felt like his head was about to explode in aggravation. Shaking the remaining images out of his brain, he jumped out of bed, tore open his dresser for a fresh pair of underwear, and hurried to the shower to cleanse himself of what he felt certain was a nightmare.

As warm water poured over him, Craig leaned his forehead against the shower wall, and quietly started singing to himself. Like the rest of his body, Craig's voice has matured during the past few years, however it still carries a slight nasal quality. When he was younger Craig hated his voice, but recently Craig overheard Tweek telling Henrietta that Craig's voice reminded him of Eddie Vedder.

Henrietta responded by telling Tweek "Eddie Vedder was a douchebag, but Craig's voice made him fuckable, sort of". Craig took that as a high compliment, coming straight from the bitch of darkness herself, and now Craig occasionally sings old Pearl Jam tunes in the shower. Focusing on remembering the lyrics usually calms him down, but right now it isn't working!

Craig is so disturbed, and he simply can't get his body to chill out. Reaching for the tap he turns it all the way to cold, thinking about that old expression 'take a cold shower'. Biting his lip, he waits through the temperature change, while breathing deeply and closing his eyes. It's one thing for him to have wet dreams involving Tweek, because Tweek's cute, and kind, and he's Craig's pretend boyfriend. Craig could also live with the Greek god that was Kenny McCormick, and the perverted freak that was Butters Stotch getting it on in his sleeping brain without his permission one night. Let's face it, that dream was kind of hot, but Craig was drawing the line on his sleeping self sexing up the douchebag tool that was Eric Fucking Cartman.

After awhile, Craig feels slightly calmer. He turns off the tap, and steps shivering from the shower. Drying off with his thick yellow bath towel, Craig pulls on fresh boxers, and heads back into his bedroom. Plopping down at his desk, he fires up his laptop. Obviously, he has some deep seated issues to work through, so maybe it was time to do some real research on this whole 'gay' thing. Taking a deep breath, Craig opens up his browser and starts looking for answers.

At first he felt very uncomfortable, just putting the words 'gay' into his web browser really gave him pause, and the amount of disturbing shit he was forced to dredge through was utterly mind boggling. After working through his nervousness, he decided to try a search on reddit, and he immediately got lucky! Craig came across a fairly normal conversation about being a gay teen, where a contributor recommended a website called Caprice, claiming that it was both educational and satisfying. The website had facts, a discussion forum, as well as photos. The prospect of photos made Craig a little nervous, and his hands were shaking slightly as he typed the site into Google.

What Craig discovered at Caprice was a little different from what he was actually looking for, but it answered his most important question, in addition to totally flipping his shit.

Perhaps Craig should have started by reading the facts, since that was what the first page of the forum suggested, but Craig was never one for following the rules, so instead he dove right into the photo section, and WOW, what an interesting photo section it was. Craig wasn't exactly a stranger to porn, Clyde had been shoving girly magazines in his face since around the 3rd grade, but unlike the pictures in the magazines that Clyde was always lugging around, the pictures on Caprice actually made Craig feel... something.

After flipping past numerous shots of licentious young guys in various states of undress, Craig came upon a photo that made him suddenly stop. His eyes blinked for a moment, his finger that was hovering over the mouse button dropping down to his lap, as he examined the photo with a look of utter fascination. The subject of his sudden interest was an artsy photo of a stunningly attractive blond, naked from the waist up. He appeared to be around the same age as Craig, and the boy held an uncanny resemblance to Tweek, well except for the fact that their eyes were a totally different color, Tweek was much skinnier, and Craig had never seen Tweek with a look like that on his face. Tweek was adorable and pure in Craig's eyes, even during the times when he was acting a little bit crazy, Tweek was precious, he was not like... this.

The boy in the photo was laying in a candlelit room on a bed of silky white sheets, and his hands were pulled up, wrapped with a white gauzy material, and tied to an old grungy looking wrought iron bed frame. The background revealed more of the white gauzy material, which appeared to be hanging from the ceiling, and give the impression that a gentle breeze was lovingly caressing the beautiful boys skin. The picture cut off at the boys thin sexy hips, so Craig couldn't see what was actually going on down below, but the look on the guys face spoke volumes.

That was the first time that Craig ever masturbated to someone else's image. Sure, like all guys, Craig had went through a period where he was fascinated with his own body, and he certainly enjoyed a little self exploration from time to time, but that and this were two totally different things. He found himself enraptured, and ended up staying awake nearly the entire night, fantasizing about that particular photo, he didn't know why he felt so curious about it, since he had no idea what was going on in the places that the camera lens missed, but not knowing caused his imagination to fill in the blanks. His own dirty thoughts just kept driving him over the edge.

Craig stared into the boys eyes, glazed over with passion as they were, and felt himself growing hard, he reach his hands into his boxers, and ran them over his cock, letting his imagination go wild until he found himself panting and spilling thick cum all over his hands. He closed his eyes, breathing slowly while his body calmed down. He stumbled to the bathroom, cleaned himself up, than returned to his laptop to start all over again. Finally, when his eyes slipped down to the clock on his computer toolbar and discovered that it was 4am, he quickly saved the photo to a password protected folder on his hard drive. Crawling into bed he tried to fall back asleep. Instead his imagination took a hold of him again, but this time it replaced the boy in the picture with Tweek, causing his excitement to resurface and requiring him to rub another one out, before he was finally able to slip into a thoroughly exhausted sleep.


	2. Five Pennies

**Chapter 2: Five Pennies**

It's another brutally hot summer day in South Park, and the unbearable heat has inspired Token Black and his friends to throw an impromptu pool party. Craig Tucker sits at a cramped picnic table in Token's backyard, unenthusiastically sipping from a bottle of warm beer. It's been a long day of putting up with Eric Cartman's antics and Craig's sunburned, tired, and just really fucking cranky. Most of his friends are shit faced, they started partying early in the afternoon, right after Token put his parents on a plane. Steve and Linda are off on a month long 2nd honeymoon, and they are trusting Token to hold down the fort while they are away. As such, it took an entire 30 minutes for Cartman to convince Token that raiding his parents liquor cabinet was a good idea, and everything sort of went downhill from there. Craig had enjoyed cooling off in the Black's large swimming pool, eating barbeque prepared by Stan Marsh who is a surprisingly good cook, and hanging out with Token and Clyde, but now Craig really wishes he were somewhere else.

"I should probably bail." Craig grumbles, sitting his beer down and pulling his phone out of his back pocket to check the time.

"Relax bro." Clyde tells him, grabbing the phone out of his hand. "have another drink. Tweek won't be off work for a while."

Craig frowns, snatching his phone back, and shoving it back into his pocket dejectedly. Clyde and Token sit on either side of him, and since Ike and his friend Firkle are also squeezed onto their side of the picnic table everyone is crowded together uncomfortably. Butter's Stotch sits on the other side of the table between Cartman and Wendy. Butters sits sideways, his thin frame resting drunkenly against Eric's larger back. Wendy is acting like Butter's long lost mother, applying sunscreen to Butter's red rosy cheeks, and nagging him about the dangers of too much sun exposure. Eric is ignoring them and chatting with Jimmy, who sits next to him fussing with the harmonica in his hands which is covered in mayonnaise and gunk, since Cartman got frustrated with Jimmy earlier and dunked it into a tub of macaroni salad.

Craig doesn't really get the whole weird dynamic between Cartman, Butters and Wendy. It is something that began during the first year of high school, right after Butter's mother disappeared. Rumors are Linda Stotch ran off with some man she met on the internet, but Butters' father is convinced that she was abducted. As for Butters, he refuses to acknowledge the fact that he even has a mother, and his friends, being the self centered asshats that they are, ignore the matter entirely.

Speaking of self centered asshats, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny all passed out hours ago. Stan and Kyle are sleeping it off in one of Token's guest rooms, and Kenny is sprawled out on a nearby lounge chair, surrounded by several empty beer bottles and a half eaten plate of barbeque ribs.

Today Kenny is dressed in a simple pair of black board shorts, which emphasize his slender legs. His long blond hair has been bleached almost white by the sun, and his body is lean, tanned and muscular, due to the large amount of time that Kenny spends skateboarding at the local skate park. Craig unconsciously runs his eyes over Kenny's flawlessly sculpted chest, recalling the days when Kenny liked to cross dress as a princess, and run around flashing his breasts at all the neighborhood boys.

'He's certainly filled out.' Craig thinks, a bit enviously, until he suddenly realizes that Kenny is both awake and also watching him curiously. Blushing fiercely, Craig quickly looks away.

Across the table Cartman pulls the harmonica out of Jimmy's hands and chucks it into the swimming pool.

Craig hates to admit it, but the years have been kind to Eric. When they were kids Cartman had been the fattest kid at their school, but now, in their senior year of high school, that honor belongs to Bebe Stevens. Craig finds it a little disconcerting that the same chick who used to be coveted by nearly every guy in their 4th grade class was now known simply as the fat chick while Eric Cartman, who is still the biggest douche in the entire town, has somehow become almost attractive.

Of course, as everyone in town knows, Eric's transformation didn't come cheap. When they were in middle school Eric suddenly became obsessed with his self image. He disappeared for 9 months, and when he returned he was a totally different person, at least on the outside. At first, Stan and Kyle insisted that it was a trick, that the NEW Eric was actually an imposter, since that is totally the type of fucked up shit that Cartman used to pull when they were kids, but eventually the truth came out that Eric had begged his mom to send him to California to have weight loss surgery.

Unsurprisingly, nobody in South Park was fazed to learn Eric chose such an extreme method to lose weight, Eric Cartman is famous for using radical methods, and he's the king of taking the easy way out. For a lazy fuck like Cartman surgery would seem like a much easier option compared to, you know, actually dieting. As such, it was an odd turn of events when, after returning from California, Eric actually changed his eating habits, and kept the weight from coming back. The jerk even started a physical fitness routine of running and swimming, and the crazy bastard stuck to it.

In addition to losing what Eric refers to as his 'baby fat', Cartman also hit an amazing growth spurt during puberty, pushing his height to an astonishing six foot nine, and making Cartman the tallest boy in their grade. A title that formally, and proudly, belonged to Craig. To make matters worse, Cartman, being the general asswipe that he is, spent most of their freshman year of high school referring to Craig as 'Chibi', a term Eric apparently picked up during his annoying Otaku phase where he spent all of his time reading manga with Wendy, and forcing Butters into weird cosplay outfits.

Craig did his best to ignore Eric, but the truth is he was really self conscious during fresh man year. Not only did he have to worry about Eric popping up around school to make short jokes, there was also the never ending taunts about his relationship with Tweek. If not for his friendship with Token and Clyde, Craig would have stopped hanging out with Cartman ages ago.

Craig finds it so aggravating that Token and Clyde put up with Eric's garbage. The constant racist/sexist/homophobic jokes are bad enough, but it is so obvious to Craig that Eric is simply using Token for his swimming pool, since Eric doesn't have one of his own. As Craig is considering asking Eric why he doesn't get his mother to build him his own swimming pool, his eyes inadvertently glance over in Kenny's direction to discover that Kenny is still observing him with those big sky blue eyes of his.

"What's your problem, Eric, go get Jimmy's harmonica." Wendy angrily insists, and Craig shoots Kenny a dirty look and flips him off.

"Screw you Wendy, I just dried off, I'm not getting back in that pool." Cartman says stubbornly, causing Wendy to reach past Butters and smack him across the back of the head.

"You bitch! Why are you hitting me?" Cartman complains, and Craig flips Kenny off again, since the fool is still staring. Kenny grins big, further pissing Craig off, but at last he looks away.

"You're an ass!" Wendy informs Cartman. "You deserved to be hit. If you keep it up, I'll beat the crap out of you next. Now, go get the harmonica out of the pool"

"Fuck you, Wendy!" Cartman growls. "Don't tell me what to do."

Craig considers intervening, since it would be easier and quieter to just jump into the pool and retrieve Jimmy's treasure himself, but before he can stand, Jimmy speaks up.

"Never mind, W-Wendy. I have another h- harmonica at home." Jimmy flashes a big grin, while reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handful of change. "Instead let's p- p- play a game, Eric."

"Yeah, whatever." Cartman gripes, but still turns his attention to the area of the picnic table where Jimmy is placing 5 copper pennies, 3 face up, 2 face down.

"You need to look closely at the pennies." Jimmy waves one hand over the pennies like a magician in the midst of some really good magic, before asking. "Do you see a president in these pennies?"

"Yes, of course I see a president !" Cartman says exasperatedly, before pointing at a penny and confirming sarcastically. "Look everyone it's Abraham Lincoln."

"Nice c-catch, Eric." Jimmy says, and pats Eric on the shoulder, before continuing. "Do you see something religious in the pennies?"

"Well let's see, Jimmy. Do I see any anything religious?" Cartman mumbles, examining the coins closely, before suddenly smiling, and exclaiming. "Yes! It's right there, in 'God' we trust!"

"Excellent, you're s-smarter than you look." Jimmy teases, his smile growing bigger.

"Fuck you, Jimmy." Cartman curses half heartedly.

"So Cartman." Jimmy continues, while trying to hide his very obvious smile "Do you see any p-p-pussy in these pennies?"

Cartman's eyes go wide, and Kenny and Clyde sit up with sudden interest.

Cartman stares suspiciously at Jimmy for a moment, wondering exactly what he is up to, before staring down at the coins. After a moment he picks up one of the pennies, examines both sides of it closely, and sits it back down on the table in annoyance.

"Well?" Jimmy asks with a touch of humor in his voice, "Do you see it. Do you see p-pussy?"

"Give me a moment." Cartman continues to search, growing irritated.

"Well?" Jimmy asks again after a moment has passed. "We do-do-don't have all day."

"No Jimmy, I do not see any fucking pussy." Eric admits in obvious frustration.

Grinning big, Jimmy reaches out and snatches the pennies off of the table and pockets them before saying, loudly. "No, and you never will, because five cents won't buy you any, and you're too big of an a-a-asshole to get it for free!"

Everyone, except for Cartman and Craig, breaks into laughter. Craig's heard the joke before and doesn't really find it that funny, even with the added barb at Cartman. He is also distracted by his cell phone which is vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out to check for a text.

"Wow, what a great audience." Jimmy finishes off with a smirk.

"That's a good one, Jimmy." Clyde says drunkenly.

"Shut the fuck up, Clyde, you dick." Cartman shoots back.

"Well if it's a d-dick you're looking for, I'm sure Butters' will give you some for your p-p-pennies." Jimmy forces out, causing the table to explode in laughter again.

"Yes, I will." Butters agrees with a giant inebriated grin.

"Do you want to die, Butters?" Cartman screams loudly, turning seven shades of red, and pushing Butters off of his back. Butters just giggles happily, and leans back against Cartman again, ignoring his outburst completely and starting to sing to himself.

Feeling annoyed by his surroundings, Craig stands up and moves away from the table to read the text that Tweek just sent.

_**Since my parents are out of town for the night, I closed the store early, and made you dinner. Be at my house at 7pm, or I'll eat everything by myself.** _

Craig notices the time is already 6:45, he laughs and texts back.

_**That's unfair! I'm still at Token's, that only gives me 15 minutes to get across town.** _

Suddenly in a much better mood, Craig walks back to the table, and bends down to retrieve his blue Nike sandals from beneath his seat. He slips them on, and turns back to his phone to read Tweek's newest text.

_**You better hurry than, because I'm making your favorite, and now you only have 14 minutes.** _

Craig laughs out loud, a big smile lighting up his face as he texts back.

_**I'm on my way.** _

He hits send, just as Cartman lets out a snort.

"Well everybody, at least it looks like Craig found some dick. Was that Tweek, Chibi? Do you need some money? Jimmy give Craig those pennies?"

"I'm out of here." Craig announces, choosing to ignore Eric completely. He starts to walk away toward the side gate, but stops when Token calls out. "Tell Tweek we said hello."

Craig nods, and waves back over his shoulder, not bothering to turn around as he slides his phone back into his pants pocket, and heads towards Token's garage where he parked his bike.

"I can't believe Craig ditched you guys to go bone Tweek, what a crappy friend" Cartman says maliciously, after Craig is out of earshot.

"Shut the fuck up, Eric, those two aren't boning." Token scolds him.

"Right. I suppose next you are going to try and tell me that Stan and Kyle aren't boning either".

"Stan and Kyle aren't gay!" Wendy and Ike both chirp in at the same time, causing Cartman to huff.

"Fine, and I guess Stan and Kyle AREN'T in one of Token's guest rooms screwing each other's brains out right now."

"They're not!" Ike insists angrily, but Wendy only looks thoughtful for a moment, a small smile forming on her lips as she pictures it, and finds the idea somewhat appealing.

"You just keep telling yourself that Ike, and while we're at it, maybe we should discuss your little brother complex." Cartman smiles knowingly.

"Fuck you, Cartman." Ike screams. Jumping up he storms for the house, Wendy rolls her eyes at Cartman and goes after Ike. After a moment Firkle stands up and trails after them looking more displeased than normal.

"But seriously, you guys, Tweek and Craig are totally boning." Cartman continues calmly.

"Impossible." Kenny argues. "Craig's still a virgin!"

"Oh, please! How do YOU know that Craig's a virgin, Kenny? Have you fucked him?" Cartman puffs, " No, I don't think you have, since Craig totally hates you."

"No actually, Craig only hates you." Kenny corrects Cartman, dragging himself up from the lounge chair to grab the last two ice cold beers from the cooler.

"And no I haven't fucked him, because if I had he wouldn't still be a virgin, you idiot!" Kenny asserts calmly, walking over to use the edge of the picnic table as a bottle opener. He slides one open bottle of beer across the table to Butters, than plops down in Wendy's empty seat to take a long chug of the other beer, before continuing.

"Seriously though, Craig absolutely needs to get laid soon, the guys fuckin' oozing pheromones. Kinda like little Butters here." Reaching out Kenny ruffles Butters' blond head, making the drunken boy grin happily.

"So, what's the problem, why doesn't he just screw his boyfriend?" Cartman states the obvious. "I mean, isn't that the whole point of being in a relationship?" This comment causes both Token and Kenny to shake their head.

Kenny tips his beer back and swallows the rest, before attempting to explain. "It's like this Eric, under that grouchy ass exterior Craig's a really good guy, and he fucking worships Tweek Tweak. Horny or not, he's too fucking nice to make the first move. As for Tweek..." Kenny stops for a moment, thinking deeply, before he continues. "Well, he's Tweek, who the hell knows what really goes through that kid's mind, but he's either a really good actor, or he's been lusting after Craig's ass since 4th grade."

"Dude, Kenny's right." Clyde throws in, reaching across the table to grab the last beer out of Butters' hand, claiming it for himself. "Tweek and Craig haven't fooled around yet. I doubt they've even kissed."

"What the fuck?" Eric bolts up from the table. "So what you're telling me is Tweek and Craig aren't really a couple? Those bastards have been faking all along?"

"Nah, calm down. That's not it. They are definitely a couple" Token inserts his own analysis of the situation. " I mean have you seen the two of them together? They're practically married, it's fucking embarrassing to be around them sometimes."

"That's true!" Clyde agrees. "I've seen Craig feed him before."

"Oh, I've seen that too." Jimmy suddenly chimes in. "Down at Village Inn, Craig was feeding Tweek p-pie."

"Oh that doesn't mean anything. I've fed Cartman before." Butters tells them, "when he tired to learn how to skateboard and broke his arm. I had to feed him, and bathe him, and help him with..."

"I really will kill you, Butters. Shut the fuck up!" Cartman warns, before getting back to the business at hand. "So what you guys are saying is that those two are in love, but they are total pussies, so they aren't fucking."

"Yep." Kenny answers.

"Pretty much.." Token agrees, while Clyde nods and sips his beer.

"E-e-exactly." Jimmy stammers.

"I see." Smiling Cartman rubs his hands together, suddenly deep in thought.

"So perhaps they just need a little push to help them along."

"Hell no, Dude. Stay out of it." Token warns him, but Cartman doesn't respond, he's preoccupied with concocting his most brilliant matchmaking plan to date, which he's certain cannot possibly fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I know we haven't actually seen Tweek yet, but he shows up in the next chapter.  
> Edit: I forgot to mention that the Penny joke isn't mine. It's an old joke that someone told me ages ago, but have no idea where it originated from.


	3. Styrofoam noodles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after re-reading my previous chapters, I decided they could use a good re-write. I rushed them out, and they are basically a mess. So for those who are still reading, I want to say thanks for putting up with my sloppy grammar. I will try to do better in the future.
> 
> This chapter is one that I really struggled with. I wanted it to be one thing, but it kept veering off in a different direction (I blame Craig!). I hope you enjoy! Lastly, a reminder. This story is rated M for a reason, and will contain Smut and very vulgar language, this is your final warning!

**Chapter 3: Styrofoam noodles**

It's 7:05pm when Craig pulls up in front of the Tweak residence. He parks his bike in the rack at the side of the house, pulls out his keys, and lets himself in the front door. Craig's relationship with Tweek's parents is solid. He refers to them as Mom and Pop, keeps a copy of their spare house key, comes and goes as he pleases, and is only expected to abide by one golden rule: NO HANKY PANKY IN THE HOUSE!

Craig kicks off his shoes in the front hall, and heads to the kitchen where Tweek is fastidiously dishing sticky white rice into two large bowls. He's dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans, yellow Donald Duck slippers, his mothers' pink plaid apron, and a vintage purple tie-dyed T-shirt that Craig bought for him at the Fairplay Swap Meet a few weeks back.

"You're late!" Tweek complains and sets the rice scoop on the counter.

"I am late." Craig agrees because he knows things generally go better for him if he just allows Tweek to have his way. Taking a few steps closer he reaches out and plucks a stray rice grain from Tweek's chin.

"Bring these." Tweek commands and hands the bowls of rice to Craig, so he can untie and remove the pink apron. "I picked up a movie too, ah- drinks. I forgot the drinks." Pulling open the refrigerator he pulls out a can of Cherry Coke for Craig, and a bottle of water for himself.

Craig carries the bowls of rice into the family room, and places them on the glass coffee table next to two steaming Styrofoam containers of ramen noodles. Craig enjoys the rare occasion when Tweek's parents go out of town because it means dinner in front of the television, but tonight he is apparently being spoilt rotten as Tweek has prepared his favorite cheap comfort food.

Spotting the DVD case sitting next to the TV, Craig's eyes light up. Reaching over he plucks it up and examines it closer. It's an original copy of the director's cut of the first Red Racer movie. They recently did a re-release of it, and last month it was playing down the street at the Bijou Cinema, but Tweek isn't a fan of enhanced movies, and he adamantly refused to go see it. Craig couldn't change his mind no matter how much he implored.

Turning toward Tweek, Craig flashes a rare grin, "Cheap ramen noodles, Cherry Coke, and the director's cut of Red Racer! I'm so happy! What did I do to deserve all this?"

"What?! Lots of things! You bought me this shirt, and I know that you really wanted to see that shitty re-release, but you didn't, because of me- and I just- um- I wanted to do something nice for you!" Tweek explains fretfully, and Craig is momentarily dazzled by Tweek's timid smile and the way his cheeks are slightly pinker than they normally are.

'He's fucking adorable!' Craig thinks to himself, but he doesn't say it out loud, since that would just be too weird, instead he plops down on the couch, and pulls the coffee table a little closer to make it easier to eat on.

Tweek slips the DVD into the player, and sits down beside Craig. Craig mixes a few spoonfuls of rice into his container of ramen, before happily slurping the mixture down nosily. Tweek peeks over at Craig every once in a while, pleased to see a smile on his face. Craig Tucker rarely smiles, sure he smirks a lot, and after seven years Tweek's an expert at making him laugh, but the smile thing, it tends to take work. Tweek spent over three months salary bidding on that Red Racer DVD, but it was totally worth it!

Craig finishes his noodles quickly, while Tweek picks lightly at his own meal, taking only a few bites, before deciding he's full.

"Do you want the rest?" He offers his noodle cup to Craig.

"You hardly touched them." Craig grumbles, but takes the container from him and starts scooping it full of rice.

"I'm good." Tweek insists, picking up his bottle of water and taking a sip from it. "I bought us some cake for later too."

"You need to eat more. You're too damn skinny." Craig scolds. Filling his soup spoon with the noodle rice concoction he holds it out to Tweek while cocking his eyebrow expectantly.

"O-Okay." Tweek agrees, opening his mouth and leaning forward so that Craig can feed him. The truth is Tweek isn't really a fan of junk food, but he tolerates it for Craig. Tweek swallows down two spoonfuls of the warm mixture, noticing that it somehow tastes better when Craig feeds him, but he shakes his head when Craig holds out a third spoonful.

"I'm full, Mom!" Tweek insists with a smirk, making Craig chuckle and eat it himself. Sitting the container aside, Craig burps loudly and leans back comfortably. He reaches across the couch to grab Tweek's hand and squeezes it fondly.

Halfway through the movie Craig decides to get more comfortable. Scooting to the back of the couch, he lays on his side, with his head on a pillow, and stretches his long legs out. Craig watches Tweek for a bit, enchanted by the look of delight that is evident in his large jade eyes as he watches Red Racer. His disheveled blond hair and perpetually chapped lips offset otherwise childlike features, giving him a much needed edge, but only until he smiles. Tweek Tweak's smile is delightful.

'It should be illegal for a guy to look so cute.' Craig thinks to himself and lets out a small yawn, causing Tweek to glance his way. As their eyes meet, Tweek nibbles at his bottom lip anxiously, the tip of his tongue briefly peeking out to wet the bruised flesh of his mouth. It's an unconscious gesture, one that Craig has seen many times before, but this time it unhinges him. Swallowing hard, Craig envisions another, better, use for that tiny pink tongue.

"Craig?" Tweek calls his name inquisitively, drawing Craig's attention back to his big green eyes, which are staring at him curiously.

"Are you okay?" Tweek worries, cocking his head to the side and reaching one hand to Craig's forehead, to check for a temperature. "Your face is so red."

Mortified Craig panics, pushing Tweek's hand away and flipping over to keep Tweek from noticing his very blatant arousal.

"I'm fine." Craig lies, because honesty isn't exactly an option. "I'm just tired." This is true, since his day at Token's pool party sort of did him in.

Burying his face in the pillow, he closes his eyes and focuses on getting his body back in control.

"But you look really sunburned!" Tweek points out, and pushes Craig's T-shirt up in order to examine his back.

"Jesus, it looks painful! Should I get you some aspirin?" Fussing nervously, Tweek gently runs his fingers along the reddened skin of Craig's back, causing a small desperate groan to rumble from Craig's throat.

"You need to be more careful, Craig, I don't want you to get skin cancer!" Tweek's hand slides lightly down Craig's side. "Your back got it the worst, you should have flipped over."

"So good!" Craig mumbles into the pillow. Tweek's touch feels amazing! Too fucking amazing! It's torture! Tweek's fingers continue to flutter innocently across Craig's shoulder blade, and down the center of his back, before pulling away abruptly.

"Ah! I think there is an Aloe Vera plant in the garden," Tweek recalls, "that's supposed to be good for sunburn." Jumping up, he hurries out back to raid his mother's greenhouse. Craig takes this opportunity to escape. He bolts from the couch, and rushes to the bathroom.

Locking the bathroom door, Craig looks into the mirror and lets out a sigh of frustration. Tweek's house might be a second home to him, but Craig has never jerked off in someone else's bathroom. Ah fuck it! A man's got to do what a man's got to do!

Rummaging though the cupboard Craig pulls out a bottle of Nivea, deciding it should do the trick. He pulls down his shorts and boxers, sits down on the toilet seat, and pours the thick sticky lotion into his palm. Closing his eyes, he reaches down to take a hold of his swollen erection and slowly starts to stroke himself.

Craig exhales sharply, as his mind gets to work recalling Tweek's pretty mouth. He imagines that cute pink tongue indecently rolling over the tip of his cock, and those full chapped lips opening up to take him in.

Nearly at his limit, Craig moans out nosily and works himself vigorously. In his mind his fingers are wrapped in golden blond hair, and Tweek's staring up at him lewdly. That's all it takes, Craig loses it.

Craig cries out as his body shudders, violent and messy, decorating the wall of the Tweak family guest bathroom with youthful enthusiasm.

########

"Shit, I guess this qualifies as Hanky Panky." Craig mutters dryly as he uses a wad of wet tissue to wipe down the wall and flushes the evidence. Now that the crisis is over, he's ashamed about breaking the only house rule, and he's appalled at himself for having so little self control.

Turning on the sink, he washes his hands and splashes water over his face. Examining himself in the mirror he confirms that 'yes' he really did bake the fuck out of his skin. Running his hands through his thick dark hair, he takes another quick glance around the room, verifying that he cleaned up properly, before taking a deep breath, and opening the bathroom door.

#########.

"That's a cactus." Craig informs Tweek bluntly.

"It's Aloe Vera." Tweek insists, holding out a large spiky cactus blade and scrutinizing it further. His hands are dirty and Craig frowns when he notices the numerous cuts on his fingers.

"No Tweek, that's definitely a cactus." Craig repeats firmly, grabbing Tweek by the hand and pulling him into the bathroom. Taking the thorny leaf away from Tweek he tosses it into the wastebasket, turns on the sink, and hands Tweek a bar of soap.

"Wash your hands." He instructs, as he opens the medicine cabinet to hunt down antiseptic and band-aids.

"It looks like Aloe Vera." Tweek explains as he washes the dirt from his hands.

"It does." Craig agrees with a hint of a smile.

"I fucked up my mom's garden; she's going to kill me."

"She'll understand," Craig says patiently, "you can blame it on me if you want."

"If I do that, she'll murder us both, and bury our bodies in the greenhouse," Tweek exaggerates, "but it  _was_  your fault."

"How was it my fault?" Pulling a clean towel from the cupboard, he uses it to gently dry Tweek's hands.

"You're the idiot who didn't use sunblock." Tweek reasons. "I killed my mother's garden to save you from skin cancer."

"I won't get skin cancer." Craig promises because he doesn't want an idea like that taking root in Tweek's mind. "I have Aloe Vera Gel at my house. I'll use it when I get home tonight."

Tweek grows silent after that, though he does whimper a bit when Craig dabs some antiseptic on his wounds.

#########

"Tell me what you're thinking about." Craig urges as he slips on his Nikes and readies to leave.

After tending to Tweek's wounds Craig cleaned up the dinner dishes, and served them each a slice of cake. Tweek quietly cut his cake into neat little chunks and pushed them around on his plate without bothering to take a single bite.

It was obvious that something was troubling him, and Craig wasn't about to leave without making certain that Tweek was okay.

"Seriously, Tweek, did I do something to upset you?"

"It's nothing, I'm being stupid." Tweek says while staring down at his bandaged fingers.

"Tell me anyway." Craig persists.

"Jesus, Craig, It's just that when my parents go out of town you're supposed to sleep over."

Now it's Craig's turn to go silent.

It's true. Craig always sleeps over when Tweek's parents go out of town. He'll fall asleep on the couch while they are watching movies, or he'll camp out on Tweek's bedroom floor. In the eyes of Tweek's family, they are a 'real' couple, and so Craig isn't allowed to sleep in Tweek's bed, and up until tonight he was fine with that...

"Yeah, I-uh, I'm supposed to go fishing with my dad in the morning so..." Craig's lying again, and he hates it. He hasn't went fishing with his father in years. He fucking hates being dishonest to Tweek, because Tweek deserves better.

"Fishing, that's cool." Tweek says with a faint smile. "See, I told you it was stupid."

"It isn't stupid." Craig steps closer to Tweek, and wraps his arms around Tweek's thin shoulders pulling him in for a goodbye hug. Tweek reaches his arms around Craig, hugging him back. It's the same hug they have given each other for the past seven years, and yet it feels unexpectedly different.

When the hug ends and Tweek steps away, Craig reaches out and pulls him back. Closing his eyes he leans down and softly kisses Tweek's... nose?!

 _'What the Fuck! I can't believe I just screwed up my first kiss!'_ Craig Tucker's humiliation is complete.

Craig opens his eyes to find Tweek staring at him in confusion.

"G-good night... Uh-I'll call you tomorrow." Craig stutters nervously, and nearly stumbles over his own feet as he hurries out the door and down the steps.

#######

After Craig makes his graceless exit, Tweek continues to stand by the front door. He stares blankly. His mind that normally moves at a million miles a minute has suddenly come to a complete stop. He feels at peace.

After a bit he leans his back against his front door and slowly lowers himself down to sit on the ground. He reaches his hand to his face and with one finger he touches the tip of his nose... and he smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I hope that I did a better job with this chapter, and that you had fun reading it.


	4. Fishing?

**Chapter 4: Fishing?**

Tweek loves South Park in the morning. The view of the sun awaking over the front range is always spectacular, and Tweek delights in the stillness and calm that he feels as he sits on his favorite bench, directly in front of Tweek Bros., and savors his first cup of coffee for the day.

Unfortunately, nine months ago, Craig convinced him to switch to the loathsome beverage called decaf. It started with little hints and innocent comments about the evils of caffeine, and ended when Craig finally showed up on his doorstep holding an large Amazon box filled with a selection of expensive and imported decaf coffees, Tweek flipped out.

"What the fuck! My family owns a coffee house, I know what decaf is, Craig!" Tweek hissed resentfully, and attempted to slam the door in his face. Ignoring his outrage, Craig patiently pushed his way inside, and calmly headed for the kitchen.

Annoyed, Tweek sat huffing and puffing, and refusing to speak, even when it became obvious that Craig had absolutely no idea how to use the Stotch family's elaborate De'Longhi cappuccino machine. Craig made a huge mess, but he persevered and eventually he produced a muddy looking concoction that Tweek refused to even look at.

"Jesus, I'm not drinking that crap!" Tweek pouted as Craig walked towards him, menacingly holding out a small white coffee cup that was overflowing and dripping with the murky brew.

"Come on Tweek, just try it for me." Craig pleaded sweetly while pressing the foul cup to Tweek's lips and flashing that 'rare' smile, the one that Tweek was powerless to resist.

Tweek opened his lips and took a tiny sip, and it was entirely horrible. It was literally the worst cup of coffee Tweek had ever tasted, but when he looked into Craig's dazzling blue eyes, and saw how excited he was, the only thing Tweek could do was nod and smile. To please Craig Tucker he would give decaf a shot.

Now however, as Tweek sits in front of Tweek Bros. Coffee with his personally, and professionally, prepared cup of decaffeinated coffee pressed to his lips, he scowls bitterly. He's dying for a proper cup of heavily caffeinated espresso. Even after nine months, Tweek constantly craves real coffee, because caffeine is Tweek's drug of choice, and quitting caffeine when you are the heir to a coffee house. Well, let's just say it hasn't been easy, but it makes Craig happy, so Tweek is doing his best.

The sun is now seated properly above South Park, which means it's time to open for business. Originally, their employee, Henrietta Biggle, was schedule to open the store, but Henrietta called this morning at 5am to beg Tweek to switch shifts with her. Since switching with Henrietta would free up his evening to see Craig again - he hoped - Tweek was happy to oblige.

Tweek tosses his coffee cup into the trash, and is about to enter the shop when he spots a red pickup truck pulling up in front of the store. Grinning big, he waves to Thomas Tucker, his eyes excitedly searching the cab of the truck for Craig. This is his chance to tell Craig about his schedule change and invite him over, however Mr. Tucker is apparently alone, and oddly he is dressed in a casual summer suit. A strange fashion choice for the fishing outing Craig had mentioned last night.

"Hey Son, is the coffee ready yet?" Mr. Tucker asks pleasantly, and follows Tweek into the shop.

"Yes sir, did you want your usual?" Tweek switches to business mode, slipping behind the counter, and pulling his Tweek Bros. apron on.

Thomas nods, and pulls out his wallet, while Tweek grabs a large disposable cup and fills it with freshly brewed plain black coffee.

"Are you working today, Mr. Tucker?" Tweek wonders as he pops a top on the cup and hands it across the counter.

"Yep, our company is re-branding, so things are pretty hectic." Thomas explains, and lays a few bucks on the counter. "I expect I'll be working weekends all summer. Shame really, being stuck in an office while the weathers been so nice."

"What about fishing? Aren't you and Craig going fishing?" Tweek asks uncertainly, his eyes clouding over with confusion.

"Fishing? Doesn't that sound nice. The last time I suggested fishing to Craig, he told me he was too old to be fishing with his pop and flipped me off." Thomas says gruffly with a nostalgic smile. "Well, Son, I better get to work, you keep the change, and have a good day."

"Yes, you too, sir. Thank you for your business." Tweek says mechanically, his eyes filling with panic as he watches Mr. Tucker exit the shop.

"Did Craig lie to me? Why would he...lie?" Tweek whispers to himself apprehensively, while his hands move to his head and he unconsciously tugs on his hair. His thoughts are speeding up, and an uncomfortably familiar feeling starts gnawing in the depths of his brain.

"He lied after I told him that I wanted him to stay the night! Was he lying because he wanted to be rid of me? Was I being annoying...?"

Negative thoughts are spiraling through his mind as they always do whenever he becomes anxious or bewildered. Cutting back on caffeine has helped him to sleep better, but Tweek's emotional issues run much deeper than a simple coffee addiction. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, that's the medical term for it, but Tweek hasn't needed to see his therapist lately, he's been feeling so much better, almost normal... okay maybe not normal, but he hasn't felt this scared in a really long time.

Latching on to the edge of the counter, Tweek wills himself to calm down, but his heart is pounding, and mind won't shut up. Closing his eyes tightly, he tries to recall the good parts from last night.

"Everything was fine. Gah- Craig was smiling. We were watching Red Racer, it was fun. It was so much fun! and...aagh! Craig was so happy!" This brings a slight smile to his face, but it vanished quickly. "Jesus Christ, so why did he lie? Nggh-why did he kiss me? Was he just trying to distract me from his lie?"

Tweek's speaking quicker now, and louder, looking at his hands he sees they are covered in bandages, and his eyes open wide remembering.

"Craig's sunburned! The cactus! I fucked everything up!" Tweek shoves himself away from the counter, slamming his back against the coffee shelf, bags of coffee drop to the ground, he doesn't notice.

"Craig's back was all burned, those tan marks, I touched them! The sunburn! Craig's going to get skin cancer, but it looked so damn good, so I touched him. Oh Jesus! That was it! I touched him, and he was able to read my mind! HE KNOWS! Craig figured everything out, I always knew that he'd figure it out someday! OH NO! And now he knows that I lied in 4th grade when I said I wasn't gay! Gah, does he think that I want to touch his penis! He's going to break up with me! I don't want that! I DON'T WANT THAT!"

Tears are pooling in Tweek's wide eyes, rolling down his pale cheeks.

"I need Craig!" With shaky hands Tweek pulls out his phone and stares at it. He's really crying now, and his body twitches faintly, he touches the screen and opens up his phone log. Craig's number is right there! Talking with Craig will relax him! Talking with Craig always relaxes him but...

"I can't call Craig!" The realization hits him hard. So hard that that everything stops. His fingers go limp, and the phone slips out of his hand. He stares at it blankly, sobbing silently, and gnashing at his bottom lip with his teeth, because he can't call Craig! Craig lied to him, because he knows, so he can't call Craig!

"Fuck!" Tweek whispers, picking up his phone again. His parents are still out of town, and he needs someone right now. Unsteadily, he scrolls though his phone log, he has a lot of numbers, Tweek knows a lot of people, because Craig has a lot of friends. That's the thing, Token, Clyde, even Jimmy those guys are cool, but the only reason he has their numbers is because when they can't find Craig they call him looking for Craig.

"SHIT!" There isn't a single person that he can call at 7am on a Saturday and just say 'Hey buddy, this is Tweek, do you mind heading over to the coffee house right now, because I need a little help me with my huge ass fucking panic attack?!' There's only Craig!

Tweek scrolls back to Craig's number, but no! HE CAN'T CALL CRAIG! He tosses the phone aside and shakily drags himself up from the ground.

Tweek does have one friend he can count on. Craig won't like it, he won't like that Tweek's cheating, but Jesus Christ! That's what Craig gets for lying. Grabbing an empty cup, Tweek's hands nervously fill it to the brim with freshly brewed caffeinated coffee.

"Hello, old friend." He mumbles sadly as he puts the cup to his lips and takes a big guilty sip, it's really hot and it burns as it slides down his throat, but it TASTES SO GOOD! It makes him feel just a little bit calmer.

Behind him he hears the swoosh of the front door opening, so he takes one more large sip, and quickly stashes the cup beneath the counter. Breathing a deep breath, he puts on his business smile, and turns to greet his customer.

"Good morning, Tweek." A familiar voice calls out to him in a honeyed drawl, and a tall handsome teen saunters to the counter. "How are you this fine morning."

"Why are you here?" Tweek wonders out loud, losing his fake smile as he stares up into Eric Cartman's creepy smiling face.

"Hey, is that anyway to treat a customer, Tweek?" Eric asks scornfully, his shady smile growing larger. "I happen to be here on some very important business."

Breathing deeply, Tweek forces a fake grin, and asks. "So what can I get you, sir?"


	5. Invisible Lines

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the second part of the chapter I posted yesterday. Craig's POV, plus a little Kenny McCormick love. I hope I caught all of my typos, but I'm a little out of it today, so I probably missed some.

**Chapter 5: Invisible Lines**

Lying uncomfortably in his bed on Saturday afternoon, Craig has his eyes closed tightly, but he isn't asleep. His bedroom window is wide open, and the hot bright sunlight is pissing him off, but he's too lazy to get up and close his curtains. Forcing open one eye, he takes a peek at the clock to see that it's already past noon, grumbling in displeasure he turns away from the offensive morning rays, nestles his face into the crook of his arm, and attempts to fall back asleep.

Last night his slumber was once again spoiled by a dirty dream. He had drifted off reflecting on his clumsy first kiss with Tweek, but he ended up dreaming about Kenny McCormick. His only saving grace was that even in his dream he felt guilty, and he woke up halfway through. He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, thinking about Tweek, and sex, and brooding in frustration. What kind of person was he that he could steal Tweek's first kiss, and then turn around and dream about screwing someone else?

For the past seven years Craig has had a perfect relationship with Tweek. Tweek is an amazing boyfriend, and Craig doesn't want to screw up what they have together. On the other hand, Craig can no longer deny that he's totally attracted to guys, and obviously that includes Tweek, but apparently Tweek isn't the only guy he's attracted to!

He also feels guilty for lying to Tweek, but what else could he do? Last night he was like an animal! He fucking wanted Tweek! He wanted him so much! He still can't believe that he actually kissed Tweek, and he didn't even ask for affirmative consent!

"Fuck, I'm an such an asshole!" Craig mumbles stoically while rubbing his temples.

Too much thinking has given him a headache, and now the sun has shifted, and it's shining on his bare back, reminding him that he's sunburned. Pushing the image of Tweek's face out of his head, he rolls to the other side of the bed in an attempt to move out of the sun, but before he can fall back asleep his mother knocks on the door and enters his room.

"Craig Tucker, you lazy shit, what are you still doing in bed." She scolds him, and Craig flips her off.

"It's Saturday mom, let me sleep!" He begs and pulls his pillow over his head.

"Sorry, but I need you to run a little errand for me." She says while pulling the pillow away. "Red comes home today, and I told your uncle that I'd pick her up at the airport, but your sister got her period and isn't feeling well, so I need you to take my car and pick Red up."

"Oh god mom, way too much information!" Craig makes a face, but sits up and pulls himself out of bed. He has only had his driver's license for a few months, but he's already regretting it. "Which airport?"

"She's flying into Eagle County."

"Fine, but you know that's not exactly a  _little_  errand, right?" Craig gripes as he heads for the shower.

"And neither was giving birth to you!" She counters smartly, before adding, "Red's flight arrives in three hours, so you had better get a move on."

"I didn't ask you to give birth to me!" Craig says stoically and flips her off, but he's actually a little excited. Red's one of the few females in South Park that he enjoys hanging out with, and perhaps the drive will help him clear his head.

#######

Kenny McCormick is in his element, it's Summertime and it's Saturday, so the South Park Recreation Center & Skatepark is crowded with local teens looking to cool off in the pool and take advantage of the fitness facilities. Kenny adores how these hot summer days inspire the folks of South Park to strip down for comfort - watching voluptuous girls in skimpy bikinis and hot guys in swim trunks always puts a smile on his face.

As for Kenny, he came to the Skatepark to fly. In one hand he holds his lover. It's sleek and sexy, and he can't wait to ride it. With a deep purple deck, forest green wheels, and a large crimson eyed demon on its belly, his skateboard is a beauty. Kenny loves the feeling of euphoria he gets when he's soaring at breakneck speeds, carving invisible lines into concrete, and taunting death to come for him. Kenny loves skateboarding even more than he loves sex, and Kenny McCormick really loves sex.

Before hitting the Skatepark he needs to lock up his shit though, because the last time he left his backpack laying around his wallet disappeared, it only contained a few bucks, and a photo of his ex, but Kenny really liked that wallet, it was a birthday present from Stan.

As he makes his way through the crowded rec center, he tosses a wave towards Bebe Stevens, who is working the front desk. Bebe helped him score a free annual pass, so Kenny can use the locker room without paying any fees. Bebe smiles and tries to wave him over, but she's chatting with a couple of girls that Kenny screwed back in middle school, so he decides to avoid them and heads straight for the locker room. Inside he pulls out his padlock, locks up his backpack, and pops into the restroom to take a quick piss.

Leaning his skateboard near the door, he stops at a urinal, does his business quickly, and heads to the sink to wash his hands. On his way out, he bends down to retrieve his board just as the bathroom door flies open, and a smoking hot blond dressed only in light yellow swim trunks hurries in. Kenny tries to move out of his way, but the blond walks right into him causing Kenny's skateboard to fly out of his hands and roll across the floor.

"Oh, shit! Dude I'm sorry about that." The blond apologizes and goes chasing after Kenny's board, bending down he smoothly retrieves it and holds it out toward Kenny.

"No harm done." Kenny tells him, letting his eyes briefly roam over the guy from head to toe, before reaching unhurriedly to take his skateboard from the blonds outstretched hand. As he does, he makes a point to stare directly into the boy's pale honey colored eyes and flash his most seductive smile.

"I'm glad your okay. Shit, that was really clumsy of me." The blond says with a toothy grin, before letting go of the board and turning toward the urinal.

Even as the blond unzips his pants, Kenny continues to shamelessly examine him. This is partially because the guy seems familiar, but mostly it's because Kenny likes to look at beautiful things.

'He resembles Tweek.' Kenny realizes and decides that's the reason he seems so familiar. He's more masculine looking than Tweek, his eyes are different, and his hair is much more stylish, but they share a similar aura.

Realizing he's being watched the blond clears his throat, and looks at Kenny with raised eyebrows, "Did you need something else?"

"I suppose not.' Kenny decides with a mischievous grin, allowing himself one more peek at the beautiful boy, before containing on his way.

#########

As he heads out of the rec center, and walks toward the skate course, Kenny's mind continues to linger on the blond. Kenny's one and only long term relationship ended nearly 6 months ago, but he still isn't completely over it. His ex was a deceitful bastard, but their sexual chemistry was off the charts. Kenny feels certain that his life is better without that demon in it, but since breaking up with Damien his sex life has been in a downward spiral. When you live in a town as small as South Park, and you sleep around as much as Kenny used to, well, eventually all that shit comes back to haunt you.

"I should have asked for his number." Kenny mumbles to himself. He stops and momentarily considers returning to the rec center, before shrugging and deciding against it. Kenny is a deep believer in fate, and South Park is a small town, if they are supposed to hook up, they will run into each other again.

Arriving at the park, Kenny spots Firkle sitting alone on a picnic blanket just to the right of the large concrete bowls that make up the skate course. Firkle is dressed like a normal kid in a sleeveless white cotton t-shirt, a pair of black cargo shorts, and some black Keds tennis shoes. Ike's influence, Kenny assumes with a smirk.

Firkle holds a hardcover book in one hand, but all of his attention is focused on the other side of the skate course where Ike is standing, skateboard in hand, talking to a crowd of locals and waiting for his turn to jump on the course.

"Dude, what's with the book?" Kenny asks and pulls the book from Firkle's hands. "You're at a skatepark, and you're like ten years old, you should be having fun."

"I'm thirteen, fuckhead, and it's for school." Firkle informs him with a apathetic sigh.

"It's summer." Kenny points out, before handing the book back.

"Fucking summer school!" Firkle complains while pushing a stray strand of long hair away from his face.

"Well, if you get sick of studying and want to borrow my board, just let me know."

"Not fucking likely." Firkle mutters under his breath, and returns to stalking Ike.

Leaning down Kenny pats him on the head, ruffling his thick black hair, as well as his feathers, before straightening up and heading toward Ike, and the skate course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
>  Thanks for reading and please review if you'd like.


	6. Thirty Nine emails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you to everyone who is still reading. I dedicate this chapter to Angel Weasel-Woman, because even though we were strangers your kindness encouraged me when I really needed it.  
> A couple people on FF.net wrote to me with concerns about pairings for this story, so if anyone needs more info. on what I have planned regarding pairings I added a note about it at the end of the chapter.  
> About this chapter: It's kind of long, and so I decided to cut it into two parts. This is the first part, hopefully it isn't riddled with typos. The second part will come when I have finished editing it. No clue how long that will take, but I will do my best to get it out soon. I hope you enjoy, and if you do I hope you will take a moment to let me know that you are interested in reading more. Thanks everyone.

**Chapter 6: Thirty Nine emails**

 

Thomas' phone is ringing. Squinting his eyes against the bright summer sun, and holding his cell up to his ear, the blond teen steps out of the South Park Recreation Center and into the bright Summer Sun.

"Yeah, Damien, what's up." He says with a yawn as he heads into the nearby parking lot.

"You're late! Where the fuck are you?" Damien demands loudly, causing Thomas to move the phone away from his ear with a frown.

"I'm at the rec center. Fuck dude, it's hot as hell today. I came out for a swim. Anyway, I told Pip where I was heading when I left." Pulling out a set of keys Thomas taps the alarm to release the lock on a brand new jet black Corvette convertible and slips inside.

"You have no idea how hot hell can get, Thomas, so watch your mouth, and you know Pip can't speak. Don't be fucking treating him like a secretary. If you want to swim so badly, I'll build you a fucking pool. Now get your ass over here, we have work to do. We open in a week!"

"Calm down, I know you have a schedule to keep, got to make the right impression on this shitty little town... blah blah blah doom and damnation... I'm on my way." Hanging up before Damien gets a chance to scream his ear off, Thomas drops the phone into the passenger seat with a sigh, puts down the top, turns up the stereo, and speeds out of the parking lot.

#######

**(Seven years earlier)**

"Could I just like, hang out with you sometime?" Said the spunky little boy in the funny blue hat. "Like, do your laundry maybe?"

It was a ridicules request, made in a nasally tone of voice that sounded so oddly serious that Thomas was momentarily at a loss for words, but that adorably silly request changed EVERYTHING for one painfully lonely ten year old boy.

Thomas was in awe of Craig Tucker. Growing up with Tourette's syndrome Thomas pretty much assumed that he would have no normal friends. He attended a special school, and he couldn't even play on the playground across from his house without being bullied by the regular kids. Living with TS also guaranteed that not a single day would go by that Thomas didn't seriously consider killing himself.

Then along came the miracle that was Craig Tucker.

Thomas immediately knew that Craig was amazing, he was funny and feisty and totally brave. He was everything that Thomas wasn't, he was everything that Thomas aspired to be.

Unfortunately, the two boys lived nearly 45 minutes away from each other, and of course they attended different elementary schools, which made seeing each other during the week impossible. However, Thomas' mother was super excited about her son having found his first friend, so she made Thomas and Craig weekend play dates a priority.

When the two boys weren't playing together, they were emailing each other. Thomas' life felt complete and content all because he now had such a wonderful friend.

The first time Craig came over for a play date he took one look at the playground across the road and became really excited.

"You live across the street from a playground! You really are the coolest kid in the world!" Craig said in admiration while grabbing Thomas' hand and pulling him across the road.

Of course Thomas was certain that Craig was wrong, since Craig Tucker was actually the coolest kid in the world, but he also knew that playing on that playground wasn't an option.

"Bitch-Cock-Shit!" Thomas screamed out, while pulling Craig's hand and trying to get him to stop.

Directly in front of them, the biggest bully in Breckenridge, Ronny Maguire, had his big butt parked on top of the slide, and his goon, Joey Reed, was playing in the sandbox a few feet away.

"Stop Craig, we can't! Shit-Bitch! b-bullies. The bullies are here!" Thomas managed to spit out, but it was too late, Ronny had spotted them, and his big red face glared angrily as he slid down to greet them.

"Hey, Fucktard, what the hell are  _you_  doing here!" Ronny bellowed and stormed towards Thomas.

"We're here to play!" Craig replied calmly and stepped in front of Thomas protectively. "You got a problem with that?"

"SHIT-ASS!" Thomas screeched uncontrollably from behind Craig as the two boys sized each other up.

"You're fine, Dude, but he needs to leave." Ronny decided firmly causing Thomas' body to quiver fretfully. Ronny's goon, Joey, sauntered over to back up his pasty faced pal.

"Where I go he goes." Craig asserted coolly, and stepped closer to Ronny, so close that he could smell Ronny's rank Doritos breath. "You got a problem with that,  _Dude_!?"

Thomas' heart was beating hard and fast as he watched the two boys staring each other down. Thomas suspected that this was the first time that anyone had ever stood up to the beast that was Ronny Maguire, and he was worried for Craig's safety. What Thomas didn't know is that Craig had been dealing with Eric Cartman since pre-school, and compared to Cartman, Ronny was about as threatening as a ladybug. Plus Craig had been schooled in the ancient art of sumo, so he felt pretty confident in his fighting abilities.

Craig took one more small step forward, forcing Ronny to take one small step back.

"Fine. The Fucktard can play." Ronny decided at last.

"His name is Thomas!" Craig warned him coolly, while flipping Ronny off. "He's my best friend, so you better not fuck with him anymore."

"Fine, Thomas can play here. Come on Joey, we're going home." Ronny said crossly, before hurrying on his way.

Thomas and Craig watched the two boys running away, and the moment they were out of sight Thomas' legs gave out underneath him and stumbled to the ground.

"Hey, you okay?" Craig asked, and joined him on the ground.

"You're just so cool!" Thomas told him excitedly. "Ah COCK!"

"No dude, you're so cool, I'd love to scream out cock in the middle of the playground."

"Well, what's stopping you?" Thomas wondered, causing Craig to look at him strangely for a moment and than Craig started shouting. "COCK! COCK! COCK!"

Thomas decided to join in adding "SHIT! SHIT! BITCH!" and the two boys jumped up and ran around the park screaming obscenities at the top of their lungs until they tired themselves out, and fell asleep in the middle of playground. When Thomas' mother came to get them for dinner, she found her insomniac son sleeping calmly with one hand firmly wrapped around the hem of Craig's blue coat.

#################

That was how it started, Thomas' first friendship. Of course Thomas never took Craig up on the laundry offer, but for three months they emailed back and forth, and saw each other almost every weekend. Thomas had a therapy group that he attended near South Park on Saturday mornings, so his mom would pick Craig up afterwards, and Craig would spend the night in Breckenridge and go home on Sunday. Thomas and Craig really liked Sunday because his mother would treat them to lunch at City Wok. Craig seemed to love it when Thomas cursed, so in the middle of eating Thomas would scream out "SHITTY COCK!" on purpose, even though it made the strange man behind the counter look at him funny.

When Christmas came around, for the first time in his life, Thomas didn't want to see his father. Visiting his father meant going all the way to Denver, and staying for two whole weeks, it also meant that he wouldn't be able to see Craig.

The normally well behaved Thomas threw a huge fit, complete with rolling around on the floor, kicking, screaming, and cussing at the top of his lungs. His mother wasn't swayed.

In his heart Thomas knew that it couldn't be helped, since the custody papers stipulated that Christmas was to be spent with his father, but Thomas wanted to spend Christmas with Craig. When he emailed Craig about it, Craig told him not to worry about it, they could exchange gifts when he got back, but Thomas was still mad!

So Thomas gave his mother the silent treatment. Aside from the unavoidable TS cussing attacks, he refused to speak to her. Of course his mother handled it well, she didn't get angry and she continued to apologize, but no matter how kind she was, Thomas couldn't accept his fate. When his father arrived to pick him up, he refused to hug her goodbye, he simply rolled his suitcase to the car, and got inside. When his mother knocked on the car window, her eyes full of sadness, he rolled down the window and he told her that he hated her. Of course it wasn't true, and although she looked shocked and hurt, he was certain that she knew that he didn't really mean it, but he still said it.

The phone call came on New Years morning. Thomas' mother had been in an accident. Although his mother didn't normally drink, it was New Years Eve, so she decided to share some wine with a co-worker. On her way home she lost control of her car on the snow covered highway and collided with an oncoming truck.

She didn't die right away, but she never woke up. Thomas' beautiful mother was transported by the Flight For Life helicopter to a Littleton Hospital, where she lived on life support for three and a half weeks. As one could imagine, Thomas was devastated. He regretted his last words to his mother, and he blamed himself. His childish mind illogically associated his mothers' accident with Craig, and his guilt was too much for a ten year old to bear. Due to his young age, they limited Thomas' visits, refusing to let him stay beside her. Thomas spent most of his time in the church chapel praying and apologizing in tears. In order to bring his mother back, he got down on his knees, and he bargained.

"Hello God, It's me Thomas. I know that I was selfish, and I told m-mommy that I hated her, but that was a lie, God. You know that I really didn't mean it." Thomas closed his eyes tightly when he felt a TS attack coming on, and somehow he got past it without an outburst, and than he continued. "Anyway God, I wanted to ask you to please fix her, and if you do I promise to be good from now on. I'll never be mean to her again. I won't think about suicide, and if you want me to God... if you want me to, and you make my mommy better..." For a moment Thomas hesitated, but he knew what he needed to do. "If you do that for me God, I'll give up the only thing in the world that I love besides mom... I'll stop being friends with Craig Tucker."

After that he threw away his cell phone in the hospital trashcan, so he wouldn't get tempted to check his email. He never even told Craig what had happened.

After three and a half weeks, at the advice of the doctors, his father decided to remove the life support, and his mother passed away. He couldn't understand it, so he decided that God must really hate him, and he decided that he was going to hate him right back.

After that Thomas hardly ate, and he barely ever slept. He refused to return to school, and he didn't play, he just laid in his bedroom at his father's apartment feeling angry, and guilty, and depressed. Of course, his father had no clue how to deal with him, and his new girlfriend wasn't ready for a child like Thomas, so it was decided that Thomas should move in with his mother's parents in California.

######

"It's a nice day today isn't it Thomas." His Grandmother asked from the front seat of the rental car.

Thomas didn't answer, and his Grandmother didn't pressure. It was late at night and they were driving through the familiar streets of Breckenridge, heading toward the home Thomas has shared with his mom. Somebody needed to close up the house, to pack up their memories, and donate the rest. His father couldn't be bothered to help, so the burden fell to Thomas and his Grandparents. It had only been three weeks since they buried his mother, but already his father was moving on with his life. Thomas couldn't say the same.

When they pulled onto his street, Thomas closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, but the truth was he just didn't want to see.

"Oh, the poor child. He's finally getting some rest." His Grandmother fretted, "No wonder he was so quiet."

Thomas kept his eyes closed tightly, as his Grandfather carried him into the house and placed him on his small bed. The house still smelled like his mother, but Thomas knew the smell wouldn't survive. Once they removed her things, once nothing was left, she would be truly gone. Thomas wanted to cry, but for some reason the tears wouldn't come, so instead he kept pretended to sleep... and eventually, for a couple of hours, he actually did, and he dreamed of a boy in a blue hat.

#######

Thomas awoke a little past midnight. He sat up in his bed and he flicked on his bedside lamp. The brightness hurt his eyes, and the sight of his room, which was still exactly as he'd left it, sent a tremor of loneliness through his soul. Pulling himself out of bed, his eyes were drawn to a small thin package, covered in snowmen and reindeers, lying upon his desk right beside his laptop. Shuffling across the room. Thomas sat down in his small desk chair, and he picked the package up. His eyes filled with tears and he clutched it against his chest. Craig's undelivered Christmas gift...

Placing the gift back on his desk, Thomas ran his hand over his dusty laptop, before flipping it open and turning it on.

########

Thirty nine emails...

Thirty nine unanswered emails...

Thirty nine unanswered emails from Craig.

Craig wrote everyday, sometimes twice a day.

But after a while they stopped coming...

Because Thomas hadn't written back.

###############

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for chapter 6. More little Thomas still to come.  
> Pairing notes: I always think too much info can spoil things, but for those who must know now. See below after spoiler warning.  
> S  
> P  
> O  
> I  
> L  
> E  
> R  
> Main Characters: CraigxTweek  
> Sub Characters: ThomasxKenny  
> Possible Triangles: DamienxAnyone he wants (who am I to say no to the Son of Satan)  
> Minor Triangles: Thomas+Craig, Pete+Tweek (Yes, I did say Pete, the chapters already written, but it probably doesn't count as a real triangle, still mentioning it just in case)  
> Possible Spin off romances: Ike+Firkle and anyone else who becomes interesting enough to warrant their own story.


	7. What's a Tweek?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this is a little short, but I will try to post another small chapter soon.

 

**Chapter 7: What's a Tweek?**

**(Present Day)**

Thomas drives into an empty parking structure next to a black building sporting a large banner reading _"Opening Soon!"._ He drives around to the back, avoiding two construction workers who are lugging a dark gray vintage countertop toward the entrance. He pulls into a parking spot near the back door that has been reserved for _'OWNER'._

Entering through the rear door, he quickly sidesteps to avoid another construction worker. On the other side of the large room, he spots Damien standing next to a scaffold speaking with an attractive blond painter. Although Thomas can't hear what Damien is saying, he'd be willing to wager a guess based on the uncomfortable look on the handsome man's face. Spotting Thomas, Damien excuses himself and heads in his direction.

Smirking subtlety, Thomas pretends not to see him, and heads through a side door that leads into a small gourmet style kitchen.

"Thomas." Damien calls out from behind, but Thomas chooses to ignore him. He presses a button on the elevator in the back of the room, and lucks out when it opens immediately, he steps inside. Unfortunately, before the doors can close, Damien's well manicured hand reaches between them, and he enters the elevator wearing an aggravated scowl.

"You know I hate playing these games with you, Thomas, stop fucking around!" Damien looks down at Thomas with displeasure, and presses a button. The elevator descends into the basement below.

"That painter, he's not your type." Thomas tells him. "Fuck worthy, but too normal, and he's straight."

"So you know my type now?" Damien reaches down and wraps a strong hand around Thomas' waist to pull him close, while glaring down into Thomas' unflinching eyes.

"Of course, you like them blond and seductive, with lots of issues that you can exploit. You like little broken toys, Damien." Thomas says icily.

"Like you?" Damien asks with a sardonic chuckle. His ruggedly handsome face donning a charismatic smile, even as his cruel eyes issue a warning.

"Like Pip and Kenny McCormick." Thomas tells him and pulls out of his grasp as the elevator door opens into a dark cavernous living area decorated in expensive heirlooms and thick comfortable sofas.

In the center of the room a small teen with porcelain skin and long blond hair is playing with an antique train set, he is sixteen years old, but looks much younger. His smile lights up sweetly when they enter.

"Hello, Pip, did you have a nice day?" Thomas asks gently, while reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small bag of lemon candy which he hands to the boy. Pip grins happily as he takes the candy from Thomas' hand causing Thomas to smile warmly and place a soft fatherly kiss on his forehead.

"He's not a child, you know." Damien says coldly, while reaching down to ruffle Pip's hair lovingly. This causes Thomas to smirk and shake his head.

"I'm taking a shower and than I'll get to work." Thomas starts for the bathroom, but stops as he remembers something.

"Oh, I met _him_ today, Kenny McCormick." Thomas says offhandedly. "I bumped into him in the bathroom. He's much hotter than his pictures."

Damien feigns disinterest, but his eyes react, briefly flashing crimson, before his mask slides back into place. He doesn't reply, but he doesn't need to, Thomas learned what he wanted to know.

"He hit on me. Tried to pick me up in the men's room, so very classy." Thomas tosses out, just as he steps into the bathroom. "Kind of made me want to fuck him."

"Don't you dare!" Damien calls out, causing Thomas to shake his head in annoyance, as he slams and locks the bathroom door.

"Gluttonous manwhore! How fucking dare he act jealous!" Thomas mumbles as he strips off his swim trunks and T. Shirt.

Thomas knows he's acting foolish, when you crawl into bed with the Son of Satan, you're basically begging to be screwed. As much as Thomas wishes he had a normal boyfriend, he knows that isn't in the cards for him, because Damien will never set him free.

Thomas turns on the water, and as he steps into the shower the bathroom door squeaks open, causing Thomas to sigh in frustration, he shouldn't have bothered. Locks cannot keep out Lucifer's spawn.

A moment later Damien is slipping into the shower behind him. Thomas isn't really in the mood, but that doesn't really matter, he knows he will be shortly, because Damien knows exactly how to bend men to his will. With another sigh, he turns and looks deep into the eyes of his own personal hell.

##################

**(Seven Years Earlier)**

After reading every one of Craig's emails, the desire to see him hit Thomas powerfully. The deal he made with God was null and void, his mother died, God did not hold up his part of the bargain. Thomas had no reason to be good anymore, and nothing to keep him from seeing Craig.

He doesn't tell his Grandparents where he is going, and since he threw away his cell phone, he can't call first. It's snowing, so he dresses warmly in a yellow jacket, and the thick white scarf with matching cap that his mother knitted for him the winter before. He takes him money from his secret hiding place, and he heads for the bus stop.

########################

Stepping off the bus onto the snowy streets of South Park, Thomas shakes anxiously and blurts out "CRAP-BITCH!" causing a passing group of high school girls to look at him strangely before breaking into laughter.

Ignoring them, Thomas holds Craig's Christmas present tightly in one hand and starts down the street.

#########################

The school yard looks empty as he wanders over and peers through the gate. Directly in front of him he spots a group of Goth kids dressed in all black and smoking cigarettes. They look a bit dangerous, but they are the only ones around. Placing one hand on the gate he timidly pushes it open.

"COCK!" Spills from his lips, catching the attention of the Goths, who look his way. The one with red and black hair eyes him coldly. Nervously, he backs up, but he stops when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful!" A rough voice calls out from behind him, causing him to jump and nearly drop Craig's present. He pulls it close to his chest, and wraps both hands around it protectively, as he turns to face the person standing behind him.

"S-sorry about that." He mumbles fearfully to the sinister looking dark haired boy who stands behind him, but this is followed up with a tic, "BITCH-COCK-COCK-SHIT!", causing the dark haired boy's eyes to open wide with shock, which quickly turns to anger.

"Ah, sorry! T-that wasn't for you! You're not... SHIT-COCK!" Thomas covers his mouth with his hands, trying to shut himself up, but that causes the present to fall to the ground.

"CRAP!" Thomas has tears in his eyes now, because he's in full blown anxiety mode, and he's certain this scary kid is going to murder him.

Surprisingly, the scary boy doesn't kill him. Instead he simply bends down and picks up the dropped present from the snowy ground, examining it briefly before holding it out to him. "ASS-BITCH-FUCK!"

The scary boy leers at him inquisitively, and Thomas extends a shaky hand to retrieve Craig's gift.

"So you have a death wish or did Cartman send you over to fuck with me?" The taller boy asks him.

"No, neither! SHIT! I h-have, I have Tourette's." Thomas explains quickly. "COCK-COCK-BITCH!"

The boy smirks at him, nodding slowly, than he reaches out his hand and rests it gently on Thomas back, rubbing gently. Thomas' eyes fly wide open as he feels a strange warmth radiate through his body briefly, followed by a sensation that would best be described as enthralling.

"Better?" The dark haired boy asks, and Thomas nods, because he is indeed much better. The boy withdrawals his hand, and steps back, watching Thomas curiously.

Thomas swallows hard, needing another moment to gather his wits, before asking, "Are you f-friends with Cartman?"

"Fuck no! I'm not friends with fatass." The boy nearly growls, than grows calm again and extends his hand in a very adult manner. "I'm Damien, I go to school here... sometimes."

"I see. I'm Thomas." Thomas says, taking Damien's hand and shaking it hesitantly. "I don't suppose you know Craig Tucker?"

"Sure I know him, why do you ask?" Damien responds sourly.

Thomas smiles in relief, "He's my friend. I have this!" Thomas gestures to the gift in his hand. "Nobody was at his home, and since it's a school day I figured I might be able to find him here, or..."

"School let out early today, the only reason those douchebags are still around is they all had detention." Damien explains.

"You had detention too, Demon spawn!" Pete calls out, causing Damien to send an angry glare in his direction.

"Ah," Thomas says with disappointment. That means he will have to walk back to Craig's house, but at least he lives fairly close to the school.

"I guess I'll try his house again. Thank you, and it was nice meeting you!" Thomas tells him politely, and starts to head on his way.

"It was nice to meet _me_?" Damien is surprised, most people find him scary, or annoying, or both. He isn't used to hearing such things. Once, Pip used to say things like that, but that was before Pip got broken.

"Hey, hold up." Damien calls out and hurries after Thomas. "Practically everyone in town is at that art show thing today, Craig's probably there with Tweek. I can show you where it is, since I'm going that way."

"Really?" Thomas looks at Damien gratefully, before blurting out. "COCK-COCK-SHIT!"

"Ah, I mean thank you very much." Thomas blushes with embarrassment, but Damien's actually smiling at him tolerantly. He's not laughing, or poking fun, or looking frustrated. Thomas decides that Damien can be trusted.

The two boys are walking off together, when Thomas thinks to ask.

"What's a Tweek?"

###################

End of Chapter 7


	8. Too much pressure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who is still reading, and special big hugs for those who have left comments! Here is the short chapter I promised.

**Chapter 8: Too much pressure!**

**(Present Day)**

Like many of the businesses in South Park, Tweek Bros. Coffee has experienced its share of bad luck. The small family owned coffee house has survived near bankruptcy, a merger, a corporate takeover attempt, and numerous other events that resulted in its near annihilation. Somehow it has managed to endure.

Richard Tweak has proven to be both cunning and ruthless in his pursuit of protecting his family legacy. He utilized his partnership with Harbucks to study their secrets, refine his business acumen, and develop powerful and wealthy connections.

Two years ago when the Harbucks' Corporation attempted a hostile takeover of Tweek Bros. he used his connections to bring about a reverse takeover. The Harbucks' corporation fell under new senior management, and Richard Tweak brokered a deal which returned full ownership of Tweek Bros. Coffee to the family.

Soon after Tweek Bros. went under a extensive remodel. It now includes a small covered outdoor patio, as well as a counter with seating to allow the locals to sit and watch the Baristas at work, or in Richard Tweak speak "watch the coffee magic take place."

Unlike his father, Tweek isn't a fan of the counter set up. He doesn't enjoy being 'spied upon' as he creates his elegant coffee masterpieces, and today Tweek is doubly troubled, since Henrietta's friend Pete is hanging out at the counter watching every move he makes, plus Eric Cartman has been camped out all day in a booth located in the corner of the store, and for some reason Cartman won't stop gawking at him.

To make matters worse, he's back on caffeine, so his jitters are back, and he can't stop thinking about Craig. Throughout his long uncomfortable shift, Tweek has waited impatiently for a call from Craig, but so far his phone has remained silent.

"Maybe I should just call him?" He ponders out loud, and pulls his phone out of his apron pocket to peek at the screen and confirm that Craig still hasn't called.

"No, he's a liar! I can't call him. Ngh- and I'm at work. My father will kill me for talking on my cell phone when we have customers in the store." Tweek's voice grows louder as he becomes more stressed. "Jesus, I don't want to die without seeing Craig one more time!"

Regrettably, he slides his phone back into his apron.

"Don't worry, we are all going to die." Pete says gravely.

"What!?" Tweek blurts out and bites his lip as he realizes, with embarrassment, that Pete has overheard him talking to himself. He turns to look at the Goth who is suspiciously scribbling in a small black sketchbook that he holds in such a way as to hide whatever he's up to.

"We are all going to die." Pete reiterates gloomily, "Every single one of us. It doesn't matter how rich or poor we are, or how freakin' virtuously we live our lives. We are all heading for the same place. They'll stick us in the ground, or maybe they'll just cremate us."

"Jesus Christ! I don't want to be cremated!" Tweek jumps nervously, and sneaks another sip from the cup of coffee that he has stored under the counter.

Pete knows he shouldn't verbalize such morbid thoughts at Henrietta's place of employment, because Henrietta doesn't like it when he frightens the weird coffee kid, but he can't help himself. Pete rarely finds other people interesting, yet he's bizarrely intrigued by Tweek. The spaced-out blond is oddly cool, in a freakish sort of way.

 _'Talking to this guy doesn't totally suck.'_ Pete catches himself thinking and frowns when he remembers that unlike his so called friends he is still Goth; he is not supposed to be excited at the prospect of chatting with others.

Taking another drink of coffee, he peers across the room to the booth by the front door where Cartman sits. The douche isn't even drinking coffee, he's sipping fruity fucking iced tea while peeking at them all covertly from behind his conformist laptop. The huge fucking smirk on Eric's face really pisses Pete off.

"Can you believe that tool Eric Cartman, he's been here like all freaking day."

"You've been here all day too." Tweek points out while sneaking another sip from his coffee cup and peering over at Eric's table. When he catches Tweek looking his way Eric shifts his smirk to Tweek, which in turn causes Tweek to jerk and let out a tiny panicky squeak.

"It's summer it's too freakin' hot to be outside." Pete reasons. Lifting his coffee cup to his lips again, but finding it empty, he sits it down with a sigh.

"Yeah?" Tweek agrees." But at least today was a little bit cooler."

"I fucking hate summertime." Pete says with a yawn and picks up his sketchbook again.

"I like summertime." Tweek says optimistically. He picks up Pete's cup and refills it, before handing it back.

"No you actually don't." Pete assures him and examines the sketch he has just completed with a frown.

"I don't?" Tweek wonders biting his bottom lip nervously.

"You just think you like summertime, because that's what they want you to think. It's a load of garbage that the media has been brainwashing people with for years in order to sell us Coppertone and freaking beach balls." Pete preaches sullenly. Tweek's eyes widen with alarmed interest and he reaches for another sip of his own coffee.

 _'This kid is just too easy to fuck with.'_ Pete thinks to himself. Looking across the room he notices that Cartman is still watching them closely. Pete raises both eyebrows angrily, and flips Cartman off, before turning his attention back to Tweek who is looking at him with a weird shocked look on his face. This makes Pete feel slightly ashamed about his behavior, and then he is ashamed again about feeling ashamed.

"So anyway, what time do you get off work?" Pete asks loudly, which causes Eric's ears to perk up and his smarmy smirk to grow even larger.

"Nggh, I can leave pretty soon, once Henrietta shows up, but she told me this morning that she might be a few minutes late." Picking up a dishtowel Tweek starts wiping away imaginarily crumbs from the counter, most likely to distract himself from Eric's prying eyes.

"Do you want to hang out after work." Pete asks, causing Tweek to jerk in surprise.

"Aggh! What! Hangout with you? Jesus Christ, No way!" Tweek panics and the towel drops from his fingers. He chews on his bottom lip restlessly, and Pete notices his lips are really chapped, and strangely provocative.

"Why not with me?" Pete asks, and flicks his long bangs away from his face, causing him to remember that he no longer has bangs. His hair is much longer, slicked back, and completely black. He changed his hair last year, after Michael suggested it would help with his acne if he pulled his hair away from his face. Of course, Michael was right, Michael is always freaking right!

"Because you're scary, and Goth, and we never hangout." Tweek states the obvious.

"Come on, it will be cool, we can go down to Village Inn and drink some coffee. You like coffee right?" Pete asks persuasively.

"Aaaagh! NO! NO! NO!" Tweek exclaims fretfully, before moving closer to Pete and confessing in a tiny whisper. "Actually, I do like coffee. I like it a lot, but I shouldn't be drinking it."

"Why the fuck not? Coffee is sustenance, it's like air, or cigarettes, or sex. Besides haven't you been guzzling the stuff back there all day?"

"Jesus, man, don't tell Craig!" Tweek blurts out crazily, before covering his mouth with his hands and backing away a few steps. Then his hands fly up to his head and he grabs his hair nervously, causing Pete to 'nearly' smile, because although he's always known the coffee kid was weird, he's never seen him act this crazy, and Pete kind of likes crazy.

"Ah... that's right, you have a boyfriend, I forgot about that?" Pete says indifferently. He really hasn't forgotten at all. Like anyone could forget South Park's first openly gay kids. The town practically threw them a parade when they came out.

Standing up, Pete opens his backpack and slides his antique pencil box into it. "So that's still a thing then, you and Craig?"

"Of course it's a thing!" Tweek squeaks out. "Craig's been my boyfriend since 4th grade."

"Hey, I didn't mean any harm, I'm just surprised. I figured you were simply conforming to what everyone wanted you to be." Pete theorizes analytically. "I mean sure, I've seen you two at lunchtime hanging out, holding hands, all sappy, and shit, but it always felt a little fake if you ask me."

"Eeeek! Fake! We're not... It's just..." Tweek wants to explain, to insist that they really are a couple, but Pete's words are hitting too close to home. Pete's aggravating Tweek's worst fears, on a day when Tweek's heart is already so full of doubt, and he just can't handle it.

_'Why did Craig lie? Why hasn't Craig called? If Pete knows about the Coffee, who else knows? Jesus, Cartman knows, he must have ratted me out to Craig! He's been on that computer all day, he probably emailed Craig, with pictures! It's all the Coffee's fault, I shouldn't be drinking it, but I need coffee, because Craig lied!'_

"Too much pressure." Tweek finally whispers with tears in his eyes, and goes back to chewing on his bottom lip.

"Well, maybe it was just Craig Tucker. He just never seemed like he was legit."

"Legit?" Tweek repeats quietly, while in his brain he's begging Pete to stop talking.

"Legit, like not actually in love with you." Pete replies callously, but immediately regrets his words when a single tear slides down Tweek's face. Normally Pete gets off on manipulation, but this kids making him feel dirty and remorseful. He's starting to understand why Henrietta warned him off. Screwing with this kid is right up there with kicking puppies or pulling wings off of butterflies.

"I should go." Pete decides he needs a cigarette, and maybe a beer, and a hell of a lot of distance between himself and this pitiful kid. He starts to slide his sketchbook into his backpack, but changes his mind. He pulls it open, tears out the picture he was working on and drops in on the counter.

Without another word he shoves his sketchbook into his pack, and shuffles out of the shop dismally. Just as the door closes, Cartman slams his laptop closed, jumps up and heads out the door. Tweek is left alone in the empty coffee store, staring blankly at the drawing that Pete has left behind.

It's a drawing of Tweek, sipping from his coffee cup. After a moment Tweek reaches out and picks the drawing up, examining it closely. Pete is obviously really talented, because although this is just a simple sketch it is very lifelike and oddly beautiful. He decides that the Tweek in the picture is immensely more handsome than himself.

Tweek doesn't really know what to make of Pete. His words made Tweek uncomfortable, almost like he could read Tweek's heart; and what he'd said about Craig, it fucking hurt! Yet this picture... for some reason it feels so gentle, and Tweek likes the feeling he gets when he's looking at it.

Tweek decides he still doesn't like Pete, and starts to toss the sketch in the trash, before changing his mind, folding it up, and putting it in his apron.

#######

End of Chapter 8

Note: Yes, I know I've got a lot of balls in the air, but things should start coming together soon. I need to get Craig back in the picture too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you in Chapter 9. It may take a while, since I am juggling two stories now, and the other one is just much easier to work with, so I keep finding myself focusing on it. But I will try not to make you wait too long!


	9. Prince of Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> Since I am a sucker for reviews/comments, the reason you are getting chapter 9, this week instead of next month (which I was considering), is because Anon 2 on AO3 made a polite request, so I turned my attention back to this story.
> 
> I intended to give Craig a short POV this chapter, but Damien sucked up all my energy, so Craig's short POV got pushed to Chapter 10, but the Tweek & Craig's POVs should start picking up again in Chapter 11, and hopefully I'll have better balance going forward.
> 
> Enjoy.

 

 

**Chapter 9: Prince of Darkness**

**(Present Day)**

Damien's bedroom, like the rest of his estate, is situated below ground. The large exquisitely decorated room is lit only by the warm glow of two heavy candelabras which sit upon mismatched, but strikingly similar, dark wooden antique end tables. An ornate gyro ceiling fan whirls softly stirring their flames faintly, just enough to send shadows dancing around Damien and Thomas who lay naked on top of layers of luxurious white bedding at opposite sides of a massive and ancient king-sized bed.

_'Beautiful...'_ This sentiment, an unbidden whisper, stirs briefly against Damien's lips as he watches his lover, but he silently pushes it away. Reaching to the other side of the bed, Damien grabs a hold of Thomas' waist to pull him closer. Forcing the blond to face him, he peers into the boys angry eyes, and places a possessive kiss on the swollen flesh of his mouth. Thomas accepts the kiss only for a moment, before pulling away, flipping over and hiding his face within a silky white pillow.

_'Did I tease him too much?_ ' Damien wonders, his eyes playing slowly along the gorgeous curve of the teen's sun kissed back. It couldn't be helped, Thomas brought it on himself. Always acting up and behaving so stubbornly. Damien would give the boy 'almost' anything he desired, if only he would ask, but Thomas refuses to ask.

"It looks like you stayed in the sun too long this morning. Shall I apply some oil." Damien offers while running his fingers through Thomas' damp blond hair. After teasing the boy in the shower Damien had carried him to bed and kissed every inch of his body, he sucked, and licked, and touched, purposely driving the blond to the edge each time, before pulling back, and refusing him release. Damien also took nothing for himself. He was a beast, but a well behaved one, he would take only what was offered, and Damien deeply enjoyed foregoing his own pleasure in order to drive others to surrender.

"Dude, I can do it myself, don't you have other toys to waste your time on?" The blond snaps, causing Damien to chuckle tolerantly before playfully slapping his pale naked ass. This only serves to make Thomas angrier. Damien finds him adorable like this, hissing like a petulant kitten, with fur standing on end, while his tiny claws threaten to strike.

"I've never once considered you a waste of my time, Thomas, if I did I would have ended our playtime years ago. You're so high maintenance, even worse than..."

"Even worse than?" Thomas sits up in the bed, his eyebrows raised, and his lips trembling cutely as he spits out, "Kenny?"

"Yes, amongst others, you are the most spoilt of all my lovers, certainly you realize that by now?"

Damien dodges the pillow that Thomas aims his way, and when Thomas jumps up from the bed and starts for the door, Damien leaps from the bed and catches him in a flash, wrapping Thomas' struggling body up in his arms. Thomas is not light, his body is taut with lean muscles, and sturdy curves, but Damien lifts him easily, shoving his back against the wall harshly. Thomas wraps his legs around Damien's waist obediently, as Damien's kiss presses against Thomas' lips forcefully. His warm tongue slips between Thomas' teeth and teases against the roof of his mouth.

The moment that Thomas starts to moan Damien breaks the kiss, carrying him back to the bed, and tossing him upon it roughly. He pulls open the drawer from the end table, and removes a small bottle of oil, before crawling back in the bed and pushing Thomas onto his stomach.

"You're such a handful." Damien complains. He pulls the top from the bottle and drips oil slowly down Thomas' bare back, before capping the bottle and letting it drop on the bed.

Starting at Thomas' strong shoulders he massages the oil into the teens' skin, smiling faintly each time Thomas reacts to his touch. He works his way down gradually, stopping at the tan line.

Taking more oil into his hands, and changing his direction, he tenderly caresses Thomas' feet and toes, before slowly kneading his way up the lightly haired legs and allowing his oiled fingers to slip between the boys firm thighs. His thumb briefly teases up and against Thomas' tight opening, causing the boy to groan.

"Tell me what you want!" Damien commands, applying more oil to his hands, and caressing the mounds of Thomas' ass, before stroking his index finger down the cleft, and slipping just the tip inside causing Thomas to gasp.

"Tell me what you want, Thomas!" Damien repeats, moving his finger deeper just a fraction of an inch, before pulling back slightly, then pushing further in.

Thomas remains silent, stubbornly shoving his face into the sheets to stifle his moans, so Damien stops the movement of his hand, causing Thomas to tense up.

Leaning forward, Damien places a small kiss on Thomas back, before trying once more.

He slides his free hand along Thomas' hip, before moving it down to rub teasingly along Thomas' hardened length.

"Tell me, Thomas!"

"No!" Thomas refuses him, squirming with obvious need, but unwilling to give in.

"Have it your way!" Damien concedes angrily, pulling his hands away, and getting up from the bed. Heading to the bath, he washes his hands, and slides a comb through his thick dark hair. Walking to the closet, he dresses quickly in a pair of black slacks, and a comfortable white button up dress shirt, before slipping into his black loafers, and heading for the elevator.

It wasn't always like this, it was easier back when Thomas still trusted him.

##########################

**(Seven Years Earlier)**

Young Damien and Thomas stand directly in front of a small structure that sports a large banner reading _**'Support Your Local Artists'.**_

"What is this place?" Thomas mumbles as he walks forward, his eyes focused on a flash of blue that he spots just inside the entrance.

"This? It's the art show." Damien explains, watching with interest as Thomas moves closer, his eyes drawn to a large framed picture that is leaning up against the front of the first stall. Thomas blinks in confusion, as he realizes that the boy wearing a blue hat and coat in the painting looks a lot like Craig.

Noticing a larger painting in front of him he heads deeper into the crowded pavilion.

What is... that?" Thomas whispers unhappily to Damien and points. This painting also depicts a boy in a blue hat. This time his arms are wrapped around a cute green eyed kid, with spiky blond hair, wearing an olive colored shirt that is buttoned incorrectly.

"That's Tweek and Craig." Damien answers, but Thomas has already moved away and doesn't seem to be listening.

Thomas barely avoids crashing into several people, as he stumbles through the crowd while peering around himself. It's the craziest thing! Thomas is starting to doubt his eyes, because everywhere he looks he sees paintings of Craig, and in almost every picture Craig is with that blond. In many of the pictures they are hugging, or just hanging out, but some of the paintings show them kissing, or worse!

"Can I help you?" A Japanese woman standing behind one of the stalls inquires.

"That thing..?" Thomas points a trembling finger at one of the paintings in her stall, this one depicting the boys making out in a field of wild flowers "Is that supposed to be Craig Tucker?"

"Yes, Craig." The woman tells him proudly. "It's Tweek and Craig. Great South Park love story. My daughter painted this one, would you like to buy it?"

"FUCK-SHIT!" Thomas screams out, causing people to stare at him. "COCK-ASS!" The woman behind the counter backs off nervously.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Thomas curses in annoyance, before turning and pushing his way through the crowd. The moment he steps out of the pavilion he takes off running up the street.

"Thomas!" Damien calls out while trailing after him. Thomas ignores him and sprints up the street, wanting only to distance himself from those horrible pictures.

Across the street is the entrance to the Whole Foods, and once again he's assaulted by the sight of Tweek and Craig. This time it is a huge mural on the front of the store. Tweek and Craig are shown walking down the street, holding hands, and staring at each other with huge grins on their faces.

"What is wrong with this town?" Thomas grumbles furiously at Damien, "that doesn't even look like Craig. Craig would never smile like that!"

"Personally, I liked them better when they were fighting each other." Damien offers helpfully.

"It isn't true!" Thomas insists, but looking up at the giant mural sure makes it seem true.

"It is true! Craig admitted to being gay in front of the whole school, I saw it myself. They've been secretly together since 3rd grade, but they almost broke up because Craig was cheating on Tweek with some guy named Michael."

"Michael?" Thomas looks at Damien uncertainly, his head feels dizzy, and he's almost certain that he must be losing his mind, because none of this makes any sense. Craig's his best friend, and he's never once mentioned a Tweek, or a Michael.

"It's a lie." He decides, and glares at Damien angrily, "Why are you lying to me?"

Thomas storms away from Damien, but he's suddenly sick to his stomach, perhaps some ginger ale will make him feel better. His mom always gave him ginger ale when his tummy hurt, and right now he really wants his mommy!

He starts to cross the street heading for Whole Foods in search of ginger ale, but stops when he spots Tweek and Craig again... only this time it's the real thing! The two boys are exiting the City Wok that's next door to the Whole Foods. Craig holds a plastic to go bag in one hand, and his other hand is clutching the blond boy's hand. Worst of all, that damn blond is wearing Craig's blue jacket!

Thomas' legs feel weak, and his heart is pounding loudly in his ears, his hand grips Craig's present so hard that the wrapping rips open, but he doesn't care.

He watches jealously as the two boys stand in front of the City Wok holding hands and chatting to each other, and that blond... that Tweek! He is totally grinning at Craig. Craig isn't smiling back, he's smirking like usual, but he still looks really happy!

"COCK-BITCH-ASS-SHIT!"

Thomas' eyes fill with tears, the present drops from his fingers and lands at his feet in the snow. His fists tighten up into two small balls, as the tears pour down his cheeks.

"Are you crying?" Damien has caught up to him, and Thomas points his hand shakily towards Tweek and Craig and cries loudly.

"City Wok is our place! How could Craig take _him_ there!"

"Ah, I see." Damien mutters comprehendingly, "Tucker's cheating on you too?"

Thomas nods his head yes, even though he isn't certain that it's necessarily true. He just knows that Craig was his friend, and now he's with someone else, and it hurts so much!

"Unfaithful asshole, feel my wrath!" Damien grumbles, and Thomas feels a wisp of warm air surrounding him. He looks toward Damien, the source of the warmth, and immediately stands back. Damien's face is a mask of pure anger, his eyes glowing fiery red, as his gaze focuses across the street towards City Wok, reaching out one hand he points a finger toward the snow covered ceiling.

"Damien?" Thomas whispers as a small blast of heat sears across street, striking the roof and causing the snow to loosen and rain down on the two boys standing beneath it.

Thomas stares at Damien in shock, what did he just see?

Across the street both Tweek and Craig are shaking off the snow, but to Damien's great disappointment they are laughing happily about the mishap. Craig reaches over and starts brushing snow out of the stupid blonde's hair.

"Come on, let's go." Damien tells Thomas, leaning over and taking him by the hand, he starts pulling him down the street. "You're too good for an asshole like Craig Tucker, you can be my boyfriend instead."

"Ah-SHIT-CRAP-SHIT!" Thomas blurts out, causing Damien to stop.

"No offense, but that's getting a little annoying." Damien glares at him.

"Tell me about it." Thomas mumbles and looks down at his feet in embarrassment, causing Damien's aggravated glare to morph into one of mild amusement.

"You're really cute, so I suppose it can't be helped." Damien tells Thomas, and then he leans forward and whispers in his ear. "I can make it go away for good, just don't tell my Dad."

Damien stares into Thomas' eyes intently, and Thomas watches as the color changes, he's seeing the flames up close, but he also sees something else, a vision of an angel with long dark hair and blood red wings. The image is gone so quickly that he wonders if he imagined it, but it was so beautiful.

Damien moves closer, and presses his lips to Thomas' mouth. Thomas' eyes widen, and he loses himself inside Damien's red gaze. The enthralling sensation from earlier is back, only now it feels much stronger, and when Damien's tongue gentle nudges at his bottom lip Thomas opens his mouth slightly allowing a jolt of warmth to pass into him and flow through his entire body.

When Damien finally pulls his lips away, Thomas feels disorientated, and a little sleepy. Damien peers at him affectionately his cheeks nearly as crimson as his eyes. Thomas swallows hard, before stepping back unsteadily.

"That was... a pact," Damien decides, "My Dad's Satan, and I'm the Prince of Darkness, heir to the underworld." Damien explains a little uncomfortably. This is the place where kids normally get frightened, or weirded out, or both, but he really wants Thomas to accept him.

When Thomas' expression doesn't change, and he doesn't run away, Damien continues, "I can't always be by your side, because I've got school on earth, and training in hell, and my dad travels a lot, and likes me to stay close. But I can be your boyfriend if you want. I'll be much better than Tucker, that guy's an asshole. We can text each other, and I'll visit you whenever I can."

Thomas nods slowly, but he doesn't say a word, he's pretty shaken up about having his first kiss stolen by the Prince of Darkness.

"In return, you can never betray me." Damien tells him and his eyes flash red, causing Thomas to nod again, "and when you grow up you need to come work for me. Do my bidding or something like that." This part causes Thomas to stop nodding.

"You agree!?" Damien asks, or maybe he simply told him, but Thomas suddenly remembers something important.

"I can't be your boyfriend! I'm moving to California with my Grandparents." Thomas explains, feeling slightly relieved. "They live in someplace called Santa Monica."

"That's perfect, we have a vacation home in Malibu! We can play on the beach or something, maybe I'll even introduce you to Pip." Damien tells him.

"Pip? Is that your dog?" Thomas wonders, finding the name very cute.

"Pip's a guardian angel, or he used to be." Damien looks away guiltily, before pulling himself together, and turning back to Thomas. "So do you agree?"

Thomas doesn't want to agree, he really doesn't. Damien seems like a really cool kid, but he's no Craig Tucker. With that in mind he's about to turn Damien down, until he looks over Damien's shoulder, and realizes he can still see that mural on the Whole Foods. As much as he wants to deny it, he is starting to believe Damien's words, Craig is an asshole! Suddenly he can't think of a good reason to turn Damien down.

"I-Um- I agree." Thomas mumbles uncertainly.

"Good." Damien tells him, leaning over and pressing one more quick kiss against Thomas' lips, before taking his hand and heading down the road, "Where do you live, I'll walk you home."

Across the street from the Whole Foods, Craig's gift remains on the snow covered ground, the once pretty wrapping paper blows open, when touched by a gentle breeze, revealing the gift inside. It's a brand new copy of the 'Director Cut Version of The Red Racer movie'. Later in the day, it gets picked up by Firkle, who briefly considers throwing it away, since it's trash. Instead he takes it home, sticks it in his closet, and forgets about it. Seven years later, when it becomes a collector's item, he sells it on ebay and makes a very tidy sum.

######################

**(Present Day)**

Damien slips into the driver's seat of his Corvette, and frowns as he puts up the top, adjusts the seat to account for the height difference between Thomas and himself, and switches the music to something more suited to his tastes.

"I should just get him his own car." Damien grumbles under his breath as he pulls out of the parking lot.

As heir to the underworld, Damien knows he cannot show weakness, and love is the worst of all weaknesses. Having only one lover would make him look pathetic, and it would also make that lover a target, so regardless of what Damien feels, it simply cannot be done. It is unfortunate that Thomas learned about his relationship with Kenny McCormick. It is even more unfortunate that Thomas messaged Kenny, using one of Damien's many cell phones, and introduced himself as Damien's long term lover in California. Thomas was only stating the truth, but it certainly didn't sit well with his long term lover in Colorado.

Kenny cutely replied back telling Thomas that he couldn't care less who 'that demon' fucked. Since the aforementioned demon just happened to be sleeping naked beside him at the time, Kenny included some smiling selfies of himself using the sleeping demon's crouch as a backdrop. After which Kenny woke the demon up, bravely punched him in the face, and broke up with him. Not one of Damien's finest hours.

Thomas' revenge was not so cute. After silently stewing for months, leading Damien to believe he'd been easily forgiven, Thomas started seeing someone else. To twist the knife deeper, he allowed the man to take naked photos of him tied up in Damien's bed, which Thomas posted online at Caprice, one of many websites that Damien owns. It was a cruel move, meant to provoke Damien, and it certainly did, but it also made Damien proud. Thomas had finally proven he was vicious enough to take a permanent place at Damien's side. Additionally, Thomas' photos increased visits to Caprice drastically, so Damien decided to leave them up.

Damien made short work of Thomas' other lover, and brought Thomas to South Park to keep an eye on him. Thomas is angry about it now, but considering how much Thomas hates South Park, he should prove useful to Damien's plan.

#####

Damien parks across the road from the Bijou Theatre, and jaywalks across the street. He spots Pete and Cartman standing together in a darkened corner in front of the theatre, as he's about to enter. As usual Cartman seems to be up to no good, and the Goth appears even angrier than usual. When Damien catches his eye, Pete nods a respectful greeting in his direction, causing Damien's mood to lighten. It's a shame that Pete isn't his type, since the Goth is one of the few people in South Park with any common sense.

Moving through the lobby, Damien garners little notice from the handful of patrons that mill around the snack bar purchasing hellishly overpriced, artery clogging, popcorn. Walking to the back of the room, he unlocks an unmarked door, and follows a darkened hallway to a dead-end. He continues walking, slipping through a blood red portal that is invisible to the human eye. Inside he follows a longer hallway that slopes down and leads to a single door. Unlocking the door he enters a small office.

At first the office appears empty, a large curved desk sits against the back wall, which is covered with a number of flat screen monitors. A comfortable black leather desk chair faces the monitors, which show surveillance of many shops and streets in South Park, Colorado.

Glancing at one of the monitors, Damien has a perfect view of the inside of Tweek Bros. Coffee. Tweek Tweak is talking to another employee that Damien recognizes as a friend of Pete's. Unlike Pete, Tweek is very much Damien's type, and he smiles as he watches the boy cutely wave goodbye to his co-worker before exiting the shop.

Placing his hand on top of the desk chair in front of him, he slowly spins it around, revealing a plump naked boy, no bigger than a small Teddy Bear, who is drinking coffee from a tiny black cup. The boy has skin so pale that it's nearly transparent, big dark sad eyes, and thick pink lips. Directly in front of him, on the desk near his miniature keyboard and mouse, sits a teeny pack of cigarettes, a small black bow and a tiny quiver full of blood red arrows.

"I saw your ex outside." Damien says to the boy, "What's he up to now?"

"How should I know, Cartman and I are no longer on speaking terms," The tiny cupid mutters dryly.

"Bullshit! I know you still stalk him. Spill it!" Damien reaches out and pulls the cup of coffee out of the boys tiny hands.

The boy sighs deeply, before flying up from his chair, and floating his tiny pale body closer to Damien's eye level.

"I suppose I might know something that you'd probably be interested in. It's regarding Craig Tucker and Tweek Tweak."

#####################

End of Chapter 9

It's embarrassing to admit, but I didn't expect Damien & Thomas to take over the entire chapter, but they kind of did. I briefly considered cutting out the smex part, since I wrote it more to get my mind around their relationship, but I really feel a little smut adds to this story, and it was rather fun to write, so I left it in.

**######################**


	10. Keep your enemies close!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> punk_mit_keks - This one's for you! Thanks for making me smile! In case you didn't see it I left a reply to your comment on the last chapter.

**Chapter 10:** **Keep your enemies close!**

 

Craig's in a fairly decent mood as he pulls out of Red's driveway, and heads towards Tweek Bros. Coffee. The long drive to the airport worked wonders on him, giving him plenty of time to think. He also enjoyed chatting with Red, even if it pretty much consisted of her talking the whole time, and him nodding occasionally to prove he was listening.

Glancing at the clock he discovers that it's nearly 7:30pm, but the sun still hasn't set. It's one of the best things about Colorado summers, the days are much longer, leaving more time to enjoy the warm weather.

Tweek has the night shift tonight, so he should still be at work. Craig's been thinking about him nonstop today, so he's decided to drop by and invite him out after work. Clyde messaged him earlier, to invite them to Token's for a small get together, but with Clyde handling the guest list it will probably end up being a large party.

As he's driving down main street, he drives right past Tweek, who is standing at the stop light, on the opposite side of the road, wearing his Tweek Bros. apron. Craig flips an illegal U turn and doubles back.

While waiting his turn to make a left, Craig watches Tweek as he hurries across the street and away from him. A hint of a smile teases across Craig's lips, as he finds himself caught up in how sexy Tweek's backside looks in that apron. It's the same apron that he's seen him wear plenty of times in the past, so why has he never noticed this wonderful view before?

The car behind him honks, pulling his attention back to the road. Turning left he lowers the window, and slowly drives down the street until he catches up to his adorable boyfriend.

"Hey, baby, want a ride?" He calls out teasingly, causing Tweek to jump skittishly.

"Craig?" Tweek asks in confusion, peeking into the window. "Jesus, you scared me, why are you driving your mom's car?"

"I was playing Uber driver for my mom. She sent me out to Eagle County to pick up Red. I was just heading to your work to say hello, and ask if you want to hangout at Token's later. He's having a get together."

"Ngh- Ah...I'm not at work." Tweek states the obvious. He's silent for a moment, lost in his own thoughts, before the confusion clears and he smiles. "I switched shifts with Henrietta, so I'm off tonight. I was just heading home."

"That's perfect, get in, I'll drop you off."

Tweek nods slowly, looking like he has something to say, before changing his mind. Pulling open the door, he slides into the passenger seat. Craig waits patiently while Tweek fumbles with his seatbelt, but when he notices that Tweek's fingers are quivering, he reaches across and lays his hand gently over Tweek's hand to help him ease the clip into the seatbelt.

"S-sorry." Tweek whispers, and Craig squeezes his hand gently, before letting it go so he can put the car into drive.

"How was work?" Craig asks, while flipping on the blinker, and making a quick right at the stop. When Tweek doesn't respond he peeks at him, noticing that his hands are still trembling, and his attention is focused on the side of the road.

"Tweek?" Craig calls out to him, before reaching down and flipping the stereo off. "Are you okay?"

"Wha- Oh, Jesus, yes... I'm fine." Tweek responds. Craig isn't convinced, but Tweek's house is only two short blocks away, so Craig lets the remainder of the drive pass in silence.

Pulling up in front of the house, Craig cuts the engine and turns to Tweek who already has his seatbelt off and the door open, like he's in a hurry to bail.

"Hey, Tweek, what's up?" Craig grabs his hand, cutting off his escape. Tweek shivers, and turns to Craig timidly.

"Did something happen at work to upset you?"

Tweek still doesn't answer, opting to simply chew on his lip, and stare at Craig while trembling silently.

"Come on, Tweek, talk to me." Craig urges gently, and when he still receives no response he lifts his hand to Tweek's face and runs his thumb along Tweek's bottom lip, inducing a tiny gasp that Craig finds overwhelmingly sexy. Leaning forward, while still toying with Tweek's lip, Craig instinctively moves in for a kiss.

Before their lips can meet, Tweek panics. Letting out a tiny screech his hand flies up to cover his mouth, as he bolts from the car, and scampers towards his front door.

"Tweek!?" Craig calls after him. He is not certain if he is more surprised at himself for trying to steal another kiss, or at Tweek for turning him down and running away!

Tweek is half way across his front lawn, before he suddenly turns back "Ah! What time are we going to Token's?"

Craig stares at him in confusion for a second, before answering, "Ah...um, I just need to drop my mom's car off, and I'll walk back over to pick you up."

"Okay, see you in a while." Tweek nods and hurries into his house, leaving a bewildered Craig gazing after him.

##################

Tweek slams the door behind him as he enters his house and runs up stairs to his room. Locking the door behind him, he sits down in front of it and hides his face in his hands.

"Jesus Christ!" Tweek mumbles, and exhales into his cupped hands, before sniffing to confirm his worst fear. "The coffee! Craig could smell it on me! Shit what was Craig trying to do, was that some kind of drug check? Fucking Eric, I knew he ratted me out."

Jumping up, he runs to his bathroom, where he starts pulling stuff out of the medicine cabinet, frantically searching for the mouthwash. When he finds what he's looking for, he quickly unscrews the top, and takes a big swig straight out of the bottle. He gargles and spits, and repeats the process three times, before grabbing his toothbrush and carefully brushing his teeth. Once this is complete he cups his hands to his face, checking his breath again.

"I think we're okay now." Tweek tells the Tweek in the mirror. Breathing deeply he reaches his hand to his lips and rubs his thumb along his bottom lip curiously, trying to recreate the way Craig's thumb felt. It isn't quite the same, Craig's touch felt much nicer.

"He showed up instead of calling." He realizes, and his eyes light up happily. "That's better right?"

Reaching behind himself, he unties his apron, and pulls it off. Reaching into the pocket for his phone his fingers brush against Pete's sketch, he pulls it out along with his phone, and tosses the apron in his hamper.

Unfolding the sketch he examines it, and recalls what Pete said to him earlier, which reminds him that Craig lied. Feeling annoyed, he folds the picture up and angrily drops it in the wastebasket.

He takes a quick shower, runs a wide tooth comb through his unruly hair, brushes his teeth again, throws on a pair of black shorts and a loose white tank top, and goes to search his room for breath mints and gum.

###############

Thomas is irritated as he walks towards the entrance of the South Park mall. Feeling hungry, and stupidly nostalgic enough to crave City Wok, he hiked all over town looking for it, but it was gone! He was about to give up, and eat somewhere else, when an odd, but helpful man with a handlebar mustache, and an unfortunate sense of fashion, happily directed him to the Food Court in the mall, which is City Wok's latest location.

_'Why is it that nothing in this fucked up little town has stayed the same?'_

After Damien walked out on him, leaving Thomas in desperate need of sexual release, he took care of the problem himself, had another shower, and decided that his mood was too shitty to get any work done.

Considering his boss was the reason behind his bad mood, he didn't feel an ounce of guilt when he served Pip a microwaved meal, before heading out to eat by himself. If he could, he would have liked to bring Pip along, but Pip isn't allowed on the streets of South Park. Damien claims that people will recognize the boy, who lived in South Park up until his death seven years ago, but Thomas thinks Damien is being overprotective.

The inside of the mall is packed with people trying to find relief from the summer heat by taking advantage of the free air conditioning. Thomas window shops on his way towards the Food Court, and when he passes a Boarders skate shop, he stares into the window curiously, thinking about his meeting in the bathroom, where he'd accidentally knocked the skateboard out of Kenny's hands.

It had shocked the fuck out of Thomas when he realized that the hot guy in the bathroom was Kenny McCormick. He wasn't kidding when he told Damien that the pictures didn't do Kenny justice. He didn't even recognize him until Kenny smiled. It was that fucking smile that Thomas recognized, because he hated it!

Shaking the memory of Kenny's smile out of his head, he hurries on towards City Wok.

It's still dinner time, so the small Food Court is even more packed than the rest of the mall. Thomas starts scouting around for an empty seat as he's waiting in line to purchase his meal. He spots very few empty tables, and by the time he has ordered and received his Hot Braised Tofu and Steamed Rice those seats are no longer open.

It looks like he's going to have to share a table with a stranger, but Thomas isn't really shy, so he heads for a nearby 4 top, that is currently occupied by two teenaged boys. One is cutely handsome with a head of curly shoulder length red hair, and the other has messy short black hair, and a pair of stunning brown eyes that sparkle adoringly as he chats with the boy sitting across from him.

 _'Obviously gay!'_ Thomas thinks to himself, but if Damien's intel is to be believed, most of the males in South Park share this tendency, although few actually admit it, but Damien's intel is rarely wrong.

"Hi, is this seat taken?" Thomas asks as he stands over the two teens.

The red head looks up and smiles brightly. "No, you can sit..."

"We're waiting for a friend." The dark haired boy informs him coldly, cutting off the red haired boy quickly, and Thomas has to hold back a laugh, because the red head is obviously checking him out, and his boyfriend is apparently the jealous type.

"Ignore Stan, we are waiting for one other person, but this seat's available." The red head gestures to the seat right next to him, his smile barely hiding his amusement, and Thomas guesses that he isn't the only one who notices the jealous aura wafting off the dark haired boy.

Thomas plops down in the offered seat, and pretends not to notice the dirty look coming from the other side of the table.

"Thanks." Thomas addresses the red haired boy, taking his advice and ignoring the one named Stan.

"I'm Kyle." The red head responds, and holds out his hand. Thomas' eyes widen as he suddenly realizes who this teen is.

"Kyle Broflovski?" Thomas asks, taking the offered hand, while watching Kyle nod in confusion. "I didn't recognize you without that green hat you used to wear."

"Dude, have we met?" Kyle asks while staring at Thomas curiously. Thomas grins boyishly, showing off a mouth full of perfect teeth. It's his real smile, the one he doesn't have to work at, the one he rarely shows. Unlike most of his memories of South Park, the ones he made with Kyle are good ones. They were not really what you could call friends, but Kyle had treated him kindly, and he'd always appreciated that.

"I'm Thomas, we met years ago, I used to have Tourette's Syndrome, you probably don't remember me, but..."

"You're Thomas?! Shit, Dude! Of course I remember you, I just didn't recognize you. You look great!" Kyle blurts out joyfully, and throws his arms around him giving him a big warm hug! Thomas isn't certain if Kyle has grown up to be one of those overly friendly touchy-feely types, or if he's just trying to piss off his date, but he suspects it's the latter, so he decides to help him out.

"You look great too. I never knew you had such gorgeous red hair." He flashes his sex grin, as he says this, it's as fake as shit, but for some reason it turns most people on.

"I'm getting a drink." Stan grumbles, before standing up and walking away in a huff.

"Get me one too." Kyle calls after him with a tiny snicker.

"Boyfriend?" Thomas asks as soon as Stan is out of earshot.

"Nope!" Kyle denies it with a smile, "Just my best friend, we're straight."

"Somebody better tell him that." Thomas says, and Kyle's smile grows bigger as he watches his 'best friend' sulking on the other side of the food court, while shoving change into a vending machine.

Thomas' stomach growls, causing him to remember his food. Picking up his fork he starts eating, but continues watching Kyle, who is still watching Stan. Kyle turns his attention back to Thomas once the drinks have been bought and Stan is heading back towards them with two bottles of Snapple in hand.

"So, what are you doing in South Park?" Kyle asks.

Thomas swallows a mouthful of food, and wipes his lips, before answering.

"I live here..." Thomas starts, then after a moment of thought he continues. "Or rather, I just moved here. I was living in California with my... Grandparents, but I got a job out here and it's one of those room and board situations." This was sort of the truth, except that his Grandmother passed away of a heart attack when he was fourteen, and his Grandfather followed her nine months ago. He was already spending much of his time with Pip at Damien's place in Malibu, so it was only natural that he move in full time, since he had no other relatives he could count on. Thomas lost touch with his father years ago, after he remarried and started a new family.

"So will you be going to South Park high?"

"Yeah." Thomas answered, although he wasn't really certain if this was the case. He did hope to finish his education, and had been diligently attending school in California up until summer break. He just wasn't certain what his future would hold, since Damien held all the cards.

Stan had returned, and commenced pouting, which seemed to please Kyle, who continued to flirt with Thomas and ignore him, except for accepting the drink that he offered up.

"So what are you up to tonight, Thomas? Our friend Token's having a small get together, you should come!" Kyle asks, nearly causing Stan's head to explode.

"Uh, tonight?" Thomas debates only for a moment. He likes the idea of spending more time chatting with Kyle, and going anyplace other then home sounds awesome. Of course, pissing Damien off never ends well, but screw him! "That sounds like fun."

Until Thomas remembers that he's on foot, since the demon took the car. "Ah, but I walked over here, so..."

"That's fine, you can ride with us." The voice came from directly behind him, causing Thomas to turn his head. Kenny McCormick is standing over him, a bottle of water in one hand, his skateboard in the other, and a shit eating grin on his stupid face.

 _'No fucking way!'_ Thomas curses in his head, even as he smiles fakely up at Kenny.

"Totally, Dude, you can ride over with us. Stan doesn't mind." Kyle insists, even though Stan's face completely states otherwise.

"What time are you guys leaving?" Thomas asks, while he tries to think of an excuse to back out.

"Now." Kenny tells him, and Kyle nods.

"Yeah, Dude, we're going right now. We were just waiting for Kenny."

"But I need to go home and change, I'm not dressed for a party." Thomas tells him, although he is dressed similar to the other teens in shorts and a T-shirt.

"You're perfect just as you are!" Kenny says cheerfully, while reaching down and grabbing a piece of tofu off of Thomas' plate. "But we can wait until you've finished eating."

 _'Keep your enemies close!'_ It's something that Damien likes to say, so Thomas is still smiling, even as he considers the best way to take Kenny McCormick down.

###################

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of chapter 10
> 
> Chapter 11 will probably take awhile, as I expect my schedule to be a little crazy for the next few months, so my updates will probably slow down a lot, but I will try to post as often as I can.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and feedback is welcome.


	11. The Douchebag With A Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> I know some of you are waiting for the 'party' chapter, and I wanted to post that too, but it's too long and needs a lot more work. I decided this part was ready, and was long enough to hold its own as a chapter. So instead of waiting and posting this with the party chapter, here is a smaller chapter to hold you over, and get my last ball up in the air.
> 
> ******** Thanks again for reading, Enjoy***********

**Chapter 11: The Douchebag With A Plan**

 

It has been a long day, and Pete just wants to go to the graveyard, drink some beer, and forget that he just made the weird coffee kid cry. Instead he's hiding out in front of the neighborhood cinema, smoking a cigarette, glaring up at Cartman, and trying to keep his temper under control.

"Screw you, douchebag, I did what you wanted! I asked the coffee kid out, and he turned me down. He's not interested, nothing I can do about it! You're going to have to be satisfied with that!" Finishing his rant, Pete spits on the sidewalk ignoring his temptation to spit right in Cartman's slimy freaking face.

"Well, I'm not fucking satisfied, Pete!" Cartman snarls, "You were supposed to get him to say yes! I mean it's perfect. Tweek likes coffee, you like coffee. Tweek's a freak, you're a freak. Tweek's gay for Craig, and YOU GET OFF ON DRAWING GAY PORN OF MICHAEL!"

Pete clenches his fists tightly, causing his cigarette to drop to the ground.

"You can't tell Michael." Pete whispers furiously.

"Oh but I can, Pete, I can tell him; or better yet I'll just show him the proof. I wonder what Michael will think? And what about your dear friend, Henrietta? How do you think she will feel when she finds out about the dirty pictures you drew of her boyfriend?"

"You fucking bastard." Pete starts to make a grab for the larger teens collar, but thinks better of it, and pulls his hand back.

"How do I even know you have them?" Pete challenges, but he's really just bluffing. When Cartman called late last night, the Goth had been half asleep, but Pete woke up quickly when Cartman started describing Pete's secret sketches, in detail.

"I thought you might ask that, Pete." Cartman leers while reaching into the pocket of his laptop case, and pulling out a folded sheet of drawing paper. Cartman unfolds it and holds it in front of Pete's face.

Pete glares at it, verifying what he already knew. Reaching into his backpack pocket he pulls out his cigarettes in an effort to calm himself down.

Pete recognizes the drawing. It is one of the many unauthorized sketches that Pete drew of Michael over the years. When Henrietta and Michael started dating each other Pete realized that his one sided feelings were pretty damn pitiful, so he tossed his sketchbooks, but that was months ago, how the fuck did Cartman get his hands on them?

"Now I know what you're thinking, Pete." The slimeball pulls the picture away, making a show of refolding it carefully.

"I'm thinking I want to kill you." Pete tells him honestly.

"Yes, I understand, since that is how I would feel if I were you." Cartman sympathizes.

"You piece of shit, you took this from my trash."

"Actually I found your drawings in the South Park dump, a gen-u-ine treasure trove for blackmail material. Really, Pete, you should have shredded the evidence. Seven fucking sketchbooks! You've quite the obsession, don't you?"

Pete's eyes grow darker, he lights his cigarette, and works on masking his emotions. He doesn't want this prick to see him sweat.

"You're probably thinking that you can just overpower me, and take this here drawing and destroy the evidence, but I wouldn't suggest you do that."

This brings an unwilling smirk to Pete's lips, seeing as how Cartman is a fucking giant compared to Pete who is short for his age and looks borderline anorexic. Regardless, Pete feels confident he could take Cartman if he thought it would solve his problem, but it obviously wouldn't.

"You see, Pete, even if you were to destroy this drawing, I still have the other drawings. Your sketchbooks are locked in a suitcase, which is currently in the hands of one of my associates. Should anything happen to me, he has orders to copy and distribute them throughout South Park."

"So Butters has my sketchbooks?" Pete says with a yawn. Cartman has screwed over so many people over the years, he only really has two friends left, and only one of them is a he.

"Butters?" Cartman tut-tuts, "Like I'd trust Butters with such valuable data. I have a wide network of associates working for me. Trust me Pete, you will never find these drawings unless I want them found."

Pete glares at Cartman, unable to ascertain if he's telling the truth or not.

"I'll tell you what, Pete. I'll let you keep this as a sign of my trust. You will keep our deal, right Pete?" Cartman waves the folded drawing in front of Pete's face temptingly.

"Fine." Pete sighs and pulls the drawing from Cartman's fingers. He immediately rips it in half, before stuffing it in his pocket.

"But does it have to be the coffee kid? Isn't there something else I can help you with? I know Craig Tucker is a dick, but Tweek seems like a pretty harmless guy, what the fuck did they do to you to make you want to break them up?"

"Break them up?" Cartman shakes his head and scoffs. "I'm not trying to break them up. I'm doing this to _help_ their relationship. Fuck Pete don't you know anything about love."

"I must not, because I really don't see how my dating the coffee kid is going to _help_ their relationship."

"It's easy, Pete, do you know what the most powerful feeling in the world is?" Cartman asks arrogantly.

"I'm Goth, so I don't really fucking care." Pete points out.

"Ah, good point, good point Pete." Cartman praises insincerely.

"It's Jealousy, Pete! Jealousy is much more powerful than love, any good yaoi manga will teach you that much. So you date Tweek, which makes Craig jealous. Craig stops acting like a pussy, kicks your ass, and takes back his man. Tweek and Craig stop being lame and start having sex. The end! It's textbook."

Pete stares at Cartman for a moment, trying to decide where to start, because that plan is completely doomed to failure. Finally he decides that he just doesn't care. He needs those drawings back, nothing else really matters.

"Fine, whatevs, I'll ask Tweek out again."

"You will? That's good Pete." Cartman says graciously before adding impatiently, "and when will you be doing this?"

"Tomorrow, okay. I'll go back to the coffee shop tomorrow. In the meanwhile just keep your fucking mouth shut about Michael."

"Oh, I will, my lips are sealed; and Pete, I am sorry that I had to use your weakness against you like this, but what we're doing is for my good friends Tweek and Craig."

"Look, I'm just gonna go." Pete says tiredly. He's so floored by Cartman's stupidity, that he's done. Without waiting for a reply, he starts walking toward the street.

"Fuck, now I really need a beer." Pete mumbles and pulls out his phone.

The coffee kid said Henrietta's working tonight, so Pete briefly considers calling Michael to see if he wants to hangout, but he quickly changes his mind. He misses Michael a lot, but being around him has just gotten too weird. Both Michael and Henrietta have completely changed since they started dating; The two are currently embracing the conformist lifestyle, right down to the crappy slave wage jobs. The worst part is that even though Michael has become totally lame, Pete still desires him. Yeah, hanging out with Michael just isn't an option. Instead he takes out his phone and rings Firkle.

"Yeah, Pete?" Firkle sounds different, a little less gloomy, Pete doesn't like it.

"Meet me down at the 7-11." Pete tells him and starts walking in that direction.

"Why, what's up?"

"Nothing's up, we haven't been hanging out enough. Let's see if we can get someone to buy us some beer, and head down to the graveyard."

Firkle is silent for a moment, before admitting, "I can't, I'm on my way to a party."

"A party, what the fuck for?" Pete growls in displeasure.

"I'm with Ike right now."

"Oh," Pete's miserable expression grows even darker. "Well, never mind then."

He's about to hang up when Firkle asks, "Do you want to come with us?"

"To a party? Hardly... Uh, shit, will there be beer?"

"Probably, it's at Token Black's house." Pete frowns at the idea, but decides it still sounds better than another night spent pining over Michael.

"Sure. I won't stay long, but I guess I can go with you. Where are you now?"

**###################**

Craig stares into his bathroom mirror, deep in thought, while brushing his teeth.

_'Tweek didn't want me to kiss him?'_

Yeah that much was pretty obvious.

_'So, Tweek isn't gay? But, he never checks out pretty girls...'_

Craig thinks for a moment, before frowning in confusion. Tweek doesn't exactly check out hot guys either.

_'Maybe he's just picky, and has a type he prefers?'_

Craig rinses off his toothbrush, before rinsing his mouth with a couple handfuls of water.

_'Fuck, what if he is gay, but just not into me?'_

He stares into the mirror just a little bit harder, the look of confusion growing on his face.

Craig is somewhat confident in his looks. Although, he tends to avoid most of the South Park girls, that hasn't stopped him from receiving his fair share of confessions over the years. Mostly from pushy chicks who were convinced he could be changed if only he broke up with Tweek and went out with them.

Yeah, like that was ever going to happen, he'd never dump Tweek for some stinky girl.

_'Ah? Maybe that's it? Did I sweat too much today, maybe I smell, and it grossed Tweek out? He's pretty sensitive to that stuff.'_

Craig holds the collar of his shirt up to his nose and takes a quick sniff.

_'I better take a quick shower, before I go meet him. Fuck, maybe he really is straight? Nah, he's too fucking cute to be straight! Shit, what do I know, look how long it took me to figure out that I was gay.'_

Craig starts stripping off his clothes, but he's getting more and more agitated by the second, and it's making him stupid.

_'But still, straight guys should be more like Clyde and Token... but are Clyde and Token really straight? Shit, Clyde cries at the drop of a hat, and fucking Token dresses way too nice!'_

Craig recalls some of the pictures that he saw on that gay website; it wasn't like those guys were all one type, so obviously gay teens come in various shapes and sizes... if Craig saw most of them on the street, he would have a hard time figuring it out.

_'Shit, I suck at being gay! Aren't I supposed to have some type of radar for this? Maybe all my friends are gay, except for Tweek?'_

"FUCK!" Craig screams out loud and briefly considers bringing up that website again. He hasn't been back to it since the night he discovered it, because he hadn't needed to go back. He learned what he wanted to know, and even downloaded a souvenir, but now he has more questions. Shit, he doesn't have time for this. Tweek's waiting for him, and he still needs to shower.

_'Butters is obviously gay right? And Kenny's bi, or is he gay now? I haven't seen Kenny with a chick in ages, who the fuck knows with that guy!"_

He's undressed now, so he takes one last look in the mirror. He might not be a sexgod like Kenny McCormick, but he's certain his body is more than satisfactory. Why did Tweek turn down his kiss?

_'What would Kenny McCormick do if he wanted to kiss Tweek?... Fuck, I'd kill him before I let that happen... what am I even thinking about this for, seriously, what in the hell is wrong with me?'_

Slamming open the shower door, loud enough to make the glass rattle, Craig slips angrily into the shower.

**#End of Chapter 11#**

Poor Craig, it looks like Tweek's rejection broke him. ; )

My updates are not entirely feedback based, but it does help me to decide if something's working or not, so please feel comfortable to talk to me, because I love hearing from you.


	12. Small Get Together - Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> *Enjoy*****

**Chapter 12: Small Get Together?**

**####**

"Small get together?" Thomas mumbles to himself as Stan's 4runner rolls up in front of the Black family mansion, and they enter the property through an open security gate.

The guardhouse is empty tonight, since the security guard is down at Skeeter's place enjoying a nice bottle of Jack, compliments of Token for keeping his mouth shut about the things that go on in the mansion when Token's parents are out of town.

As Stan maneuvers his car through a very crowded driveway, narrowing avoiding side swiping a parked BMW, Thomas questions his decision to come along, but they're still in town, and only a quick walk from home if things with Kenny get too weird.

 _'Things are already too weird.'_ He realizes with a scowl.

Kenny isn't trying too hard to make conversation, but he keeps watching Thomas, and the constant staring is really starting to get on his nerves.

_'Is it possible he knows who I am?'_

Thomas' eyes widen as he considers this. He has been in South Park less than a week, but he hasn't exactly been in hiding. Kenny may have spotted him outside Damien's place, and Thomas has been driving all over town in Damien's Corvette with the top down. The car is brand new but still pretty conspicuous.

_'He probably knows, and if that's the case, he's screwing with me on purpose. Fucking bastard!'_

"Hey beautiful!" Kenny's voice snaps Thomas out of his thoughts, as they head up the walk towards the front porch, but he isn't talking to Thomas. A heavy set girl with long curly blonde hair stands on the front lawn with a plastic cup of beer in one hand, Kenny walks over to her and gives her a hug.

"Oh hey guys, I've been waiting for you to show up. Now that Stan's finally here, maybe we can get something decent to eat." The girl says as she walks over.

"So I take it I'm on barbeque duty again? I just did that yesterday. Can't we just order pizza or something, Bebe?" Stan complains.

"Wendy and I will help you cook, Stan, but you have to kick Clyde out of the kitchen first." She takes Stan by the arm and everyone starts up the stairs to the front door.

"You okay?" Thomas asks Kyle. He's realizing that Kyle is actually pretty easy to read, and right now he seems pissed off about that girl borrowing his date.

"I'm fine, dude." Kyle answers with a smile. Thomas has also figured out that what Kyle says and what he means are two different things.

The moment they're inside Kyle grabs Thomas by the hand, causing Stan to roll his eyes. Feeling a little bad for the dude who was nice enough to taxi him over here, Thomas shrugs as if to say he's innocent. Stan shakes his head disgustedly, and follows the blonde girl in a different direction.

_'And that's what I get for trying to be nice.'_

Thomas is led through a tastefully decorated living area, and back out a pair of glass doors to a moderately crowded backyard. Once outside, and away from Stan who is still inside, Kyle lets go of Thomas, and heads towards a handsome sharply dressed teen who is standing behind the pool bar with a drink shaker in one hand.

Thomas follows along, while peering around himself, admiring both the outstanding landscaping, as well as a beautiful dark haired boy with a face so delicate it reminds Thomas of the ball-jointed dolls that Pip likes to play with. Thomas unconsciously stares at the boy, until the dark haired Goth sitting across from him notices, and gives Thomas a dirty look. Realizing he's being impolite, Thomas tears his eyes away.

"About time you guys get here." The teen behind the bar greets them with a smile. "Where's Stan? I need him to take over at the Barbeque, Clyde keeps burning shit."

"Sorry, Token, we were waiting on Kenny." Kyle apologizes. "Stan's probably already in the kitchen with Bebe and Wendy

"You guys didn't need to wait, I could have road my board over." Kenny steps behind the bar, and starts lining up shot glasses.

"Token, this is my friend Thomas, he's just moved here from California..." Suddenly, Kyle's attention is drawn toward a tall dark haired kid over by the keg.

"Fucking Ike, you're too young to drink!" Kyle yells across the patio and heads toward the keg.

"So are you, bro, but it doesn't stop you!" The boy yells back. Ignoring Kyle he carries two plastic cups toward the picnic table where the pretty doll boy sits. Before Kyle can catch him, he takes a quick drink of one, then hands both cups to the Goth teen.

"That's Kyle's little brother," Token explains to Thomas, and sticks out his hand. "Token Black, welcome to my party, bro, we've got some Kamikaze shots over here, the beers over there, but we also have Tequila, if you'd prefer a margarita?" He starts pouring the concoction from his shaker into the shot glasses Kenny lined up. Kenny is already hard at work at the blender behind him.

"Ah..." Thomas is momentarily at a loss for words, because he remembers this guy.

They only met once, very briefly, when they were kids. Thomas' mom had just picked Craig up, and they stopped at the Kum & Go to buy ice cream bars. As they were leaving they ran into two boys, and Craig introduced them to Thomas. Thomas couldn't remember the second boy's name, or even what he looked like, but he remembered Token because the name was rather unique.

"Hi, I'm Thomas." Pulling himself together, Thomas pushes away the memory and grins across the bar. "I'll try a Kamikaze."

Smiling enthusiastically, Token sits down the empty shaker, pushes a shot across the bar to Thomas, picks up one for himself and holds it out for a toast. Thomas picks up his shot glass, clicks it against Token's, and the two teens down their shots.

"Thanks, man!" Thomas says, trying to control his hands which are shaking lightly. Thomas doesn't have TS anymore, and he no longer gets panic attacks. After meeting Damien all that stuff disappeared. However, just like anyone else, he is capable of feeling uneasy, and right now he's very uneasy.

Token pushes another shot across the bar. "Make yourself at home, Thomas, if you're hungry there are some burnt burgers, and as soon as I find Stan I'm going get him to cook up something less burnt."

Thomas' heart is pounding in his chest, as he watches Token head towards the house in search of Stan.

That guy is one of Craig's best friends, or at least he used to be? Thomas stares around the crowded backyard, but even if Craig was here, he isn't certain he would recognize him. It has been a really long time.

Thomas thinks about leaving, he's tempted to head back to Damien's and crawl into his arms where it's safe. Picking up the shot glass Thomas quickly downs it. Closing his eyes, he feels the alcohol as it flows down his throat, and he pushes those childish thoughts out of his head.

He isn't going anywhere! Thomas is no longer the weak little boy that has to rely on Damien to protect him. Fuck that!

It's a given that he will eventually run into Craig Tucker, this town is too small to avoid it forever, there is no reason to fear it, he put those feelings to rest years ago. The only thing he feels for Craig now is anger! Craig should be the one to fear him! Suddenly remembering his reason for being in South Park, Thomas reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver business card holder. He flips it open and takes out a thick stack of business cards. He places two piles of cards on each side of the counter.

The cards are black with blood red font. The face of the cards read: **The Playground - Surrender Your Soul & Come Play With Us**

The music suddenly grows louder as someone cranks it up. The backyard is steadily getting more crowded. Thomas is pleased to see that Kenny has gotten captured by a group of girls, and is busy serving them drinks. Kyle is standing over by the kegs now, talking to a petite blond teen, so Thomas heads that way.

**###########**

The music is blaring loud enough that Tweek and Craig can hear it from a block away.

"Fucking Clyde." Craig chuckles, as he notices the large number of cars that litter Token's long drive way, as well as the street out front.

"You'd think Token would know better by now, never put Clyde in charge of the guest list." Craig tells Tweek with a smirk and squeezes the hand that he holds tightly clutched in his own. "Small get together, my ass!"

"Aggh- yeah, Clyde always does this." Tweek agrees, the fact that Craig is laughing puts Tweek in a much better mood and a natural grin spreads across his face. In the back of his mind, he knows that he needs to ask Craig about the lie, but things are so nice right now. Tweek loves it when they spend time together this way, just walking down the street hand in hand.

Looking over at Tweek, Craig notices Tweek's absent-minded grin, but instead of making him happy it causes Craig to feel a twinge of sadness.

"Come on, lets make a run for it." Craig decides after checking for traffic. The two boys dash across the street, hand in hand. When they reach the other side, Craig stops, but Tweek keeps walking only stopping once their hands separate and he realizes that he's left Craig behind.

"Craig?" Tweek walks backward three steps to bring him back to where Craig is still standing. He looks up at him curiously. "Is something wrong?"

Craig stares down at Tweek, and pushes a strand of long hair out of Tweek's eyes. He doesn't speak right away, he's not certain that he wants to speak at all. Unlike earlier, in his mom's car, right now the atmosphere between them feels comfortable. Tweek seems calmer. It's nice, and he doesn't want to ruin the mood, yet he can't seem to stop worrying.

"Tweek... Can I ask you something?" Craig says seriously.

"Of course, Craig, y- you can ask me anything!" Tweek mutters uneasily.

Craig looks down into Tweek's eyes, searching for the best words. How is he even supposed to ask such a question? Ah, shit! This shouldn't be so hard!

_'Hey, Tweek, I'm totally gay, how about you?'_

Craig is starting to feel frustrated and he's sure he's worrying Tweek too, because Tweek's smile has dropped from his face, replaced with uncertainly.

Craig takes a deep breath, he has so many things on his mind, but instead he chickens out and simply says, "Are you happy right now?"

Tweek peers up at him, and answers without hesitation, "Yes, of course I'm happy. I love spending time with you."

Craig smiles softly, "Me too, being with you makes me so happy! I'm glad you're my boyfriend Tweek. Come on, let's go have fun!"

Craig covers Tweek's hand in his own, and the boys walk toward Token's front gate. Craig doesn't notice, he's too busy chewing himself out for being a wuss, but Tweek has tears in his eyes. Without meaning to Craig has said the exact words that Tweek needed to hear.

_'Me too, Craig, I'm so happy I'm your boyfriend!'_

**################**

Cupid Me floats in the air and stares intensely into one of his many surveillance cameras. His normally fluffy white wings are currently singed black, due to the temper tantrum that Damien threw after learning the secret that Cupid Me was foolish enough to divulge.

Being the former lover of one Eric T. Cartman has taught the little Cupid to roll with the punches, literally, so Cupid Me has already forgiven Damien for his outburst. It also helps that Cupid Me tends to be forgetful and easily distracted, long term depression coupled with bipolar disorder will do that to you.

Cupid Me was a broken Cupid, living out of a tiny shoebox in a back alley near the ruins of SoDoSoPa when Damien found him, and took him in.

These days Cupid Me satisfies his romance fix vicariously, while doing his job as Damien's head of security... okay fine, the truth is he's been reduced to perverted spy, but that doesn't mean he's given up on love.

Letting out a deep unsatisfied sigh, Cupid Me watches Tweek and Craig walking off hand in hand. For many years he considered Tweek and Craig to be his finest work, so when he learned that the two were actually having 'performance issues' it was a bit troubling.

Cupid Me floats over to his tiny keyboard, and hits a few keys to flip through different angles and positions on the surveillance screens until he finds the one he wants. He floats close to the screen, and watches as Tweek and Craig continue up the road. Still holding hands they head through the large gate of the Black family estate.

Unfortunately, the show ends at Token's gate, because Cupid Me's vast network of spy cameras are currently limited to the places where Damien has control.

The streets of South Park pretty much belong to Damien, courtesy of the hefty donations that he makes to the Mayor's political campaigns; additionally Damien has his fingers in many of the businesses throughout South Park, but most of the residences are off limits.

Cupid Me frowns unhappily. The only way for him to follow Tweek and Craig further would be to get off his ass. However, Cupid Me has become a bit of a shut-in over the past few years. Except for his nightly stalker visits to Eric's bedroom window the little guy rarely leaves the comfort of his office.

Feeling bored, and seeing nothing else on his monitors worth watching, Cupid Me decides to watch the footage he missed earlier when he was meeting with Damien. He hits a few keys on his keyboard to bring up the South Park Mall and starts rewinding. His favorite surveillance is the one in the South Park Mall, because he regularly finds nice lovey dovey couples in the midst of romantic shopping adventures. In fact, just yesterday Kyle Broflovski's little brother and that cute little Goth kid were out on the town together again, and...

Speaking of Kyle Broflovski...

"Isn't that Thomas?"

Cupid Me stops rewinding, and flies up to the screen.

Cupid Me watches carefully as Thomas interacts with Kyle Broflovski, at first the two appear to be flirting, but the clever cupid quickly recognizes that things are not what they seem.

It isn't like Thomas is doing anything particularly wrong, he's clearly chatting with Kyle to make Stan jealous. Damien hates those guys, but that in itself is nothing to be concerned with, Damien hates most of his classmates.

He breaths a momentary sigh of relief. Yup, not a problem... nobody's cheating on the boss... nothing to see here...

"Oh shit!" That's Kenny McCormick!

The bosses boyfriend and the bosses ex-boyfriend... That is absolutely cause for alarm!

Peering over his shoulder, to make certain that Damien hasn't returned, Cupid Me rewinds the mall footage and floats close to the screen to watch it again.

Thomas is hard to read, because he's fairly good at masking his emotions. It's Kenny that Cupid Me is concerned about. The look on Kenny's face is one Cupid Me is very familiar with, so he's certain. Kenny has fallen for Thomas!

How did this happen? Shit, when did it happen? Thomas hasn't even been in South Park a week... That boy sure moves fast!

Or perhaps, could this be... 'that'...?

But Cupid Me has always assumed 'that' didn't actually exist!

Everything he's ever heard about 'that' has lead him to believe it was something humans just made up, since he had never actually witnessed 'that' with his own eyes...

Rewinding the footage again, Cupid Me puts his face right up against the screen... the look on Kenny's face! It has to be true, it really exists!

"Love at First Sight!" Cupid Me whispers excitedly. "Teehee Teeheehee!"

Since having his heartbroken, Cupid Me has become bitter, but deep down he is still a Cupid, so he can't help himself; romance simply turns him on!

When Thomas and the guys get up and leave the mall, Cupid Me uses his cameras to follow them to the parking lot, and continues to follow them to their destination. The Black household! They are attending the same party as Tweek and Craig. Interesting!

Returning to his keyboard, Cupid Me presses some keys causing his screen to rewind again. He finally pauses the screen, holding off on hitting the last key, this is a dangerous move... best case Cupid Me will get fired, worst case he will get set on fire again, maybe killed this time...

"Love at First Sight!" Cupid me smiles blissfully. "Totally worth the risk!"

Cupid Me erases the footage of Thomas and Kenny, the less Damien knows is probably better. For the first time in years the little Cupid has something to live for!

**#####################**

Tweek holds onto Craig's hand tightly, as they move through Token's crowded living room. Tweek enjoys parties as much as the next guy, but large crowds make him feel claustrophobic. He breaths slowly, nodding and smiling at various classmates as they squeeze past them, and he's relieved when Craig pulls him out through the glass doors and into the backyard.

"Are you okay?" Craig asks thoughtfully, and Tweek nods. The backyard is also fairly crowded, but being in the fresh air feels really good.

Craig pushes his way through the crowd standing around the bar, and calls out to Kenny.

"Hey man, do you have some water back there for Tweek?"

"Sure, dude." Kenny smiles, and reaches into the mini fridge to pull out a water, and a bottle of pale ale which he offers to Craig.

"Much better than the crap in the keg." Kenny tells him, and Craig nods.

"Thanks man." Craig hands Tweek the water, and waits while Kenny opens the beer and hands it to him.

"So where is everyone?" Craig asks.

"Token is helping Stan and the girls in the Kitchen, Clyde is burning stuff at the barbeque, and Kyle is over by the pool monopolizing my future boyfriend." Kenny tells him.

Tweek and Craig follow Kenny's stare to the pool where Kyle is sitting with his feet in the water, next to a stunningly attractive blond.

"No fucking way!" Craig whispers under his breath, and Tweek peers up at him in confusion.

"He's rather striking, isn't he." Kenny says with a chuckle.

Craig swallows hard, and continues to stare.

_'It can't be the same guy'_

Craig unconsciously lets go of Tweek's hand, and pushes through the crowd to get a better look.

_'It sure looks like the same guy, but why would a guy like that be in South Park? It's too much of a coincidence.'_

Tweek steps forward and gently tugs on Craig's hand to get his attention.

Tweek doesn't like this, the way that Craig is looking at Kenny's future boyfriend is making Tweek uncomfortable.

"Craig? Do you know him?" Tweek asks.

Craig pulls his eyes away nervously.

"Huh, I've-uh, never seen him before in my life." Craig tells Tweek. Tweek bites his lip, feeling suddenly weird, because right now Craig is acting exactly the same as he did when he lied about the fishing trip.

"Really?" Tweek nibbles harder on his lip while peering at Craig suspiciously.

Craig nods, and smiles, while squeezing Tweek's hand reassuringly, but it's a weird smile, one that Tweek has never seen on Craig's face before. It isn't often that Craig Tucker smiles, but when he does Tweek pays attention, and that thing on Craig's face right now is a lie.

"Yeah. I don't know him." Craig's face clears up, and he stares down at Tweek for a moment, than reaches down to rub his thumb across Tweek's bottom lip. "Your lip is bleeding."

Pulling his thumb away, he shows it to Tweek, then he bends down, pokes his tongue out, and runs it across Tweek's bottom lip. Tweek's eyes widen, as does Craig's when he realizes what he's done.

"Oh, sorry, Tweek, I didn't mean to do that." Craig apologizes causing Tweek to frown.

Letting go of Craig's hand, Tweek steps away. "I'm going to the bathroom to fix my lip."

"Fuck!" Craig mutters angrily, as he watches Tweek hurry away and back into the house. Craig is about to go after him, when someone grabs him from behind.

"Hey, Craig, I saw that!" Clyde grins at his friend and smiles at him knowingly.

"You didn't see anything!" Craig says in annoyance. Even though Clyde isn't the type to run around telling people Craig's business, occasionally his mouth gets the better of him. The last thing Craig needs is more rumors about his relationship with Tweek.

"Of course, I saw nothing." Clyde agrees, and motions towards the bar. "I was just thinking I need a shot of tequila, how about you?"

**#############**

Pete smirks as he walks past Craig, and hurries towards the house after Tweek.

Pete's day in hell got decidedly worse the moment he met up with Firkle, and took one look at the vomit inducing pastel green tank top and pair of matching swim trunks that Firkle is wearing. Pete tried to be open-minded, but after spending a couple hours watching that shitty little skate punk, Ike, fawning all over his formally hardcore Goth friend, Pete has had it, he's done.

He was heading for the door, intending to escape this den of conformist before their spores infected him too, but he was sidetracked when he spotted Tweek and Craig, and witnessed something particularly interesting. Cartman might be a douchebag, but he knows his shit! There is definitely trouble in paradise. This is a golden opportunity that Pete is not about to pass up.

****End of Chapter 12*********

**Party continued in Chapter 13** . 

Feedback is welcome, comments/reviews are encouraging and they keep me writing on the days when I'd rather be playing video games. Oh, and questions are fine too.


	13. Small Get Together - Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> I am excited to say that one of my favorite authors, **fallingwthstyle** , has joined as my Beta Reader, and helped to bring you this new chapter. Thank you **fallingwthstyle** , for being wonderful and for keeping me inspired!

**Chapter 13: Small Get Together? Part Two**

**#######**

Token's family estate has always been the largest in South Park, but a few years ago his parents renovated to add a suite of guest rooms to the main floor. There are three spacious bathrooms on the first floor, however one is sporting a long line, and the other two are attached to guest rooms, which are currently occupied.

The entire first floor is overflowing with people, and Tweek has forgotten that his lip is bleeding, because he has larger issues to deal with. An oncoming panic attack is looming, and his nerves are at their limit, causing him to tremble and fret, plus his head is pounding painfully, most likely a side effect of today's coffee binge. He momentarily considers heading back outside, but his frustration with Craig wins out over his claustrophobia, so he pushes his way through the crowded drawing room and into the foyer. Fortunately, it's not the first time that Tweek has found himself at one of Token's parties and in need of a quiet place to hide, so he knows just where to go.

In an attempt to keep the party contained to the first floor, the stairs leading up to the second floor have been roped off, and Jimmy stands guard in a nearby chair. However Jimmy and Butters started drinking the moment the kegs arrived this afternoon, so Jimmy is currently passed out in his seat. Tweek reaches down and pokes Jimmy, trying to wake him up, but Jimmy simply chuckles in his sleep, and swats at Tweek's hand. With a shrug Tweek ignores the 'No Entry' sign, and ducks under the rope. He isn't too worried, Craig is one of Token's best friends, and Tweek's status as Craig's boyfriend grants him special privileges. Those privileges include access to the second floor.

Tweek is pleased to find the second floor hallway completely empty, but as he's heading up the hall a voice calls out to him from behind. "Hey, you, Coffee Kid... I mean Tweek!"

Tweek turns around to see Pete coming up the stairs. Who invited him?!

"You shouldn't be up here!" Tweek informs him, "Only Token's close friends are allowed on the second floor."

"I'm looking for Firkle, I think he's up here with Ike." Pete explains convincingly as he saunters towards Tweek while running one darkly manicured fingernail casually along the expensive wallpaper.

"Nngh- I-I haven't seen them." Tweek stammers uncomfortably. The bathroom is at the end of the hall, so Tweek hurries towards it, but he notices that Pete is still following.

"Oh man, I- if Ike's up here he's probably playing video games in the family room. It's that door right behind you." Tweek blurts out, but instead of turning back Pete continues walking towards him.

"So how are things going with Craig? I saw you downstairs, that was a pretty weird looking kiss." Pete smirks at Tweek, and Tweek glares back.

"It's wasn't a k-kiss!" Tweek mutters. He's at the end of the hallway, the bathroom door is to the right, but instead Tweek walks a few more steps to a long window at the end of the hall. He stares down into the backyard and searches for Craig.

"Yeah I didn't think so." Pete says calmly, as he joins Tweek at the end of the hall.

Tweek looks towards the area where he left Craig, but he is no longer standing there. Frowning, Tweek searches the backyard, he doesn't see Craig, but he does see Ike and Firkle sitting at a picnic table.

"Ah, Firkle's still down there isn't he?" Pete whispers next to Tweek's ear, causing Tweek to tense up and step closer to the window.

"But uhhh, you're spying on your boyfriend, right? He's over there, having a drink at the bar..." Pete points through the crowd.

"What a shame, it looks like the hot blond has stolen his attention from you tonight." Pete says provokingly.

Tweek's eyes move to the bar; Craig is standing with Clyde, but Craig's eyes are not on Clyde, they are focused on the pool. Tweek doesn't like it, but Pete's right, Craig is staring right at that fucking blond again!

"You got to admit, the guy is rather attractive, if you like that type; it sure seems like Craig does." Pete cunningly fails to mention that Tweek is a similar type, and based on what Pete witnessed earlier, Craig is attracted to Tweek as well.

Tweek pulls his eyes away from Craig, just long enough to flash Pete an angry glare.

"Look, Craig's a fool if he's thinking of dumping you for him. The blond is sexually intriguing, but personally I like you better... In fact, I'm thinking of leaving soon, and I'd love to walk you home." Pete breathes his offer against the back of Tweek's neck causing a shiver of disgust to race down Tweek's spine.

"Craig isn't dumping me! Craig said it tonight, he likes being my boyfriend! I make him happy! So get the fuck away from me, or I'll kill you, Goth asshole!" Tweek growls at Pete and pushes him aside. He stomps back to the bathroom door, grabs a hold of the doorknob, steps inside, and slams the door in Pete's face.

"Shit!" Pete curses under his breath. "He's so fucking cute when he's angry, that face is even better than when he's drinking coffee."

Since Pete didn't bother to go home, before meeting up with Firkle, he's been lugging around his backpack all day. It's full of his art supplies, so it's heavy, and carrying it is a pain, but now he's glad that he has it on him. Pulling it off of his shoulder he drops down in front of the bathroom door, and zips it open. Dragging out his sketchbook and a pencil he starts to draw Tweek's angry face.

**##########**

"Your little brother's boyfriend is stunning." Thomas says to Kyle. They're sitting together at the edge of the pool, cooling off by soaking their feet in the water, and drinking beer from plastic cups.

"Ike doesn't have a boyfriend, he's eleven, and he's straight." Kyle says with certainty, and Thomas knits his brow while staring across the pool to where Kyle's brother sits with one arm draped around the pretty doll boy's shoulder affectionately. Ike looks at least fourteen, and if that isn't young love, it's something awfully close to it.

"Oh, well his friend is stunning then." Thomas corrects himself, deciding he isn't going to be the one to point out the obvious.

"Who, Firkle?" Kyle follows Thomas' gaze. "Yeah, I guess he's kind of cute without all that make-up and crap that he normally wears."

Thomas considers asking about the make-up, but decides to drop it. Kyle clearly has no interest in his brother's love life, because he's too busy worrying about his own.

Stan is working the barbeque on the other end of the patio now, and it's currently surrounded by girls. Kyle was having fun earlier making Stan jealous, but it's clear he doesn't like it when the shoe is on the other foot.

As Thomas' focus shifts from Ike to the crowd around the barbeque he is debating whether or not he wants to ask Kyle about his relationship with Stan. However the question drops from his mind when he spots a blond nuisance heading their way holding a couple bottles of beer in each hand.

"Ah Shit, Kenny." Thomas accidentally mumbles out loud.

"Be nice Dude, I think he has a crush on you. It's kind of cute, Kenny normally doesn't act this way, usually he lets people come to him."

"I'm not interested." Thomas says with certainly.

"Straight?"

"Nope, but Kenny's not my type."

"Really? That's sort of nice to hear, I thought Kenny was pretty much everyone's type."

"Not mine, plus I already have a lover."

"Ah, you have a boyfriend? That's cool, but don't worry. Kenny's a flirt, but he's harmless, and if he knows you're involved with someone he'll back right off. Kenny's a pretty great guy like that." Thomas is briefly tempted to correct Kyle, because Damien isn't his boyfriend. When they were younger he believed that Damien was his boyfriend, and he even foolishly believed that Damien loved him, but that isn't true, Thomas is only Damien's property, the one that Damien loves is Kenny.

Kyle grabs a towel from a nearby lounge chair, pulls his feet out of the pool and starts drying them off.

"Well, Dude, since you have company now, I think I'm going to rescue Stan from kitchen duty."

"No way, you're abandoning me? To that!" Thomas complains and points at Kenny who has been stopped by what looks like a group of thirsty middle school girls. He holds the beers high over his head, and out of their reach, but one of the girls has latched on to his waist. When he catches Thomas looking his way he grins.

"Don't worry, Dude. Seriously, he's a bit of a train wreck, but he's one of my best friends, I'm leaving you in good hands." Kyle chuckles, and picks up his shoes, just as Kenny makes his way over.

"This is the payment I get for helping you make your date jealous?" Thomas huffs halfheartedly. He had been enjoying Kyle's company, but it's obvious the red head's mind is somewhere else.

"I'll find you guys in a while, have fun." Kyle pulls two of the beers from Kenny's hand, and heads towards the barbeque.

Kenny kicks off his sandals, and sits down in the spot that Kyle just vacated. He hands Thomas one of the two beers he's still holding.

"So did you miss me, darling?" Kenny asks with a grin, causing Thomas to scowl and take a long drink from the beer.

**#################**

Craig frowns broodingly as he watches Kenny sitting down at the edge of the pool. The more he looks at this new guy, the more certain he is that it's the same guy from the photo. Just like in the photo, the blond is naked from the waist up, since the only thing he's wearing is a pair of dark colored shorts. Of course, in the photo he looked unbearably seductive, whereas now he's simply another teen enjoying the end of a long summer's day, by running around half naked, and turning everyone on!

Regardless of his state of undress, it's not like Craig to feel concerned about a complete stranger, and just because Craig jerked off to the guy's photo a few times doesn't give him ownership rights, or anything like that. It should not bother him that the local sex god is hitting on the new boy in town, but for some reason it is bothering him. It's bothering him a lot!

Actually everything about the new guy is bothering Craig, so much so that he can barely keep his eyes off of him.

When Clyde hands Craig a shot of Tequila he downs it in one angry gulp.

"So what do you know about that blond guy?" He asks Clyde.

Clyde looks in the direction that Craig motions to, and decides to fuck with him. "Who Kenny? Nice guy, loyal friend, just don't sleep with him."

"No, not Kenny, do you know the guy Kenny's sitting with?"

"Oh him? You mean the guy you can't keep your eyes off of?" Clyde smarts off, and gets flipped off for his trouble.

"Stan says he's a childhood friend of Kyle's. I haven't met him yet, but according to Stan he's a total douche, and he's just trying to get in Kyle's pants." Clyde explains with a smirk, while pouring two more shots.

"So he is gay?" Craig asks, if so then it's even more likely that it's the same guy.

Craig returns to staring across the pool. He can't deny it, he's strongly attracted to the blond, to the point that watching the guy innocently talking to Kenny feels somehow pornographic to Craig's deprived virgin eyes; but sex aside, the guy is exactly his type, in fact he bears a strong resemblance to Tweek, but unlike Tweek, he's actually gay.

"But dude, you probably should lay off checking out other guys when your boyfriend's around. I don't know if it's the same for guys, but chicks hate that shit." Clyde imparts his words of wisdom, and hands Craig another shot.

"I'm not checking out anyone! I was just curious." Craig says defensively and pulls his eyes away from the pool to flip Clyde off.

"So, what do you think this is?" Clyde changes the subject by holding out a small business card to Craig.

Craig downs his shot and takes the card from Clyde's hand; after examining the card for a moment, he shrugs uninterestedly and hands it back, "No clue, where did you get it?"

"Right here, there's a pile of them on the bar." Clyde tells him. "The Playground? Sounds like a nightclub. South Park needs a good nightclub." He shoves the card into his pocket.

Trying to avoid looking back at the pool, Craig stares towards the house instead, and decides that he better go track down his boyfriend.

"I should probably go check on Tweek."

Clyde nods, "Good idea. You should do that, he seemed sort of upset. I'm going to go see if Stan needs anymore help with the barbeque."

"He probably does, you should do that." Craig says sarcastically, and heads for the house.

**###############**

Tweek rummages through Token's medicine cabinet and pulls out a bottle of Excedrin, he takes two and downs them with the remaining water in the bottle that Craig gave him earlier. He drops the empty bottle in the trash.

Looking into the mirror he examines his lips. They are severely chapped, but they aren't actually bleeding anymore. Turning on the faucet to the sink he quickly washes his face, and uses a guest towel to dry it.

Taking one more look into the mirror, he sighs deeply, and puts his hand on the door knob. He doesn't want to go back downstairs, but he can't exactly hide out in the bathroom all night either, so he opens the door and nearly trips on Pete's legs as he steps out of the bathroom.

"Why are you still here?" Tweek asks angrily, and Pete smirks up at him and holds out his sketchbook.

"I was inspired."

Without thinking Tweek takes the sketchbook from him, and looks at it. It isn't much, the drawing is only a pair of very angry eyes, but Tweek recognizes the eyes, because they're his eyes.

Tweek doesn't much care for Pete, the guys creepy and he's mean, but he is extremely talented, and Tweek appreciates that about him.

Pete pulls himself up from the floor, and picks up his backpack, before asking, "Pose for me."

"Fuck no!" Tweek growls, and shoves the sketchbook at Pete. Pete stares at it for a moment before taking it.

"Why not? I find you really interesting, and I want to draw you." Pete steps closer to Tweek, his darkly painted eyes staring at Tweek in fascination.

Tweek backs away uncomfortably.

"I don't like you." Tweek says honestly.

"That's simply because I'm different, and that makes you uncomfortable. You don't know any better, so you think you don't like me, but you just need to give yourself a chance to know me better." Pete slides his sketchbook into the backpack, than reaches in deeper to pull out a black tube, he pulls off the top.

"Come here for a second." He tells Tweek, and gently grabs him by the back of the neck.

"Let me go." Tweek complains, and steps backwards again, but his back is to the window now, and he isn't able to escape. Pete lifts the tube to Tweek's face, and runs it along his bottom lip.

"Calm down, it's just lip balm." Pete insists, and continues to apply it gently, working around to Tweek's upper lip.

"Rrrrr- I'm not a girl, I don't need that shit." Tweek tries to twist away.

"Maybe if you take better care of your lips, Craig might kiss you for real next time." This is enough to make Tweek stop struggling.

"Ngh- Really?" The look of anger on Tweek's face fades, replaced by a gentle sweetness that causes Pete's heart to speed up.

 _'Hell, this has to be his best look so far, it's freaking delightful. I want to paint him just like this.'_ Pete thinks to himself, and without realizing it, a warm smile grows on his normally emotionless face.

"Everyone prefers kissing soft lips, and you want to be kissed right?" As he asks this he leans closer to Tweek, and than he whispers. "But if I was Craig, I'd want to kiss you anyway."

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!" Tweek's eyes widen at the sound of Craig's voice yelling from down the hall, and he pushes Pete away, but when he does he loses his footing and starts to fall backwards, towards the window. Pete quickly catches a hold of him, and pulls him forward. He wraps his arms around Tweek to help him regain his balance.

"I said get the fuck away from him." Craig repeats as he pulls Tweek out of Pete's arms.

"Screw off, douchebag, I was only trying to help him." Pete grumbles at Craig, surprised at how annoyed he feels. For just a moment he felt something close to happiness, the only other person who ever made Pete feel that way is Michael, and he's really annoyed with Craig for butting in.

"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you?" Craig ignores Pete and starts examining Tweek carefully. Frowning, Pete reaches out, grabs Tweek's hand, and slips the lip balm into it.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Craig pushes Pete back. "Stay the fuck away from my boyfriend, or I'll kick your ass." He follows this up by flipping Pete off.

Grabbing Tweek by the hand, he pulls him down the hall and drags him into the room at the end.

"Conformist fucktard, I'd like to see you try!" Pete grumbles.

Deciding he's done enough damage for one day, he heads for the exit. On his way home he realizes that he might have inadvertently done Cartman's bidding. He made Craig jealous, that was the deal right? His work is done, and he doesn't need to see Tweek anymore.

"I still want him to pose for me though." Pete decides, and that warm smile returns to his face.

**################**

Craig is furious as he drags Tweek into Token's family room, and slams the door.

_'How dare that Goth piece of shit, lay his hands on Tweek that way! And why the hell was Tweek just standing there letting him touch him? Tweek isn't gay, and that guy was about to kiss him! Fuck!'_

Looking down at Tweek, Craig notices that he's trembling and his eyes look glazed over and teary, all signs of an imminent panic attack.

_'Shit, no wonder, Tweek's so out of it, he probably didn't even realize what was going on! This is all my fault, I knew I shouldn't have let him run off by himself!'_

"Are you all right?" Craig asks softly, as his mind flips from jealousy to guilt.

"I have a headache." Tweek answers in a whisper, and Craig nods, and leads him over to the couch.

"Lay down." He tells him, and Tweek does so without a word. "I'll go get you some aspirin."

"Gah- I took Excedrin already. Can you just do that thing you do, please?" Tweek nearly whines this request at Craig, causing his own worries to immediately fade, because Tweek needs him right now, and that is what's most important.

"Sure." Sitting on the couch, he pats his lap lightly. Tweek lays his head on Craig's lap, and closes his eyes. Craig starts to gently massage his temples.

"Tweek, what was that? Was that asshole trying to kiss you?"

"Ngh- He gave me this, for my lips, because they are chapped, and bleeding, and gross, and stuff." He opens his hand and shows Craig the tube of lip balm.

"Your lips are not gross! Not at all!" Craig is about to run a finger across Tweek's lips, which he personally finds very sexy, when he catches himself, and pulls back. Instead he runs his fingers through Tweek's messy hair and scratches his scalp, causing Tweek to whimper cutely.

_'Damn it, he doesn't even realize how attractive he is. That fucking bastard was trying to take advantage of his innocence!'_

"Oh, and he also asked me to pose for a drawing. Aggh, like be his model."

_'That son of a bitch! I should have kicked his ass!'_

"Tweek, you told him no right? Uh... I mean, since you're my boyfriend and everything, you can't be his model, you need to promise to stay away from him, okay?" Craig blurts this out, and holds his breath.

"Gah- Okay, Craig. But can I ask for something too."

"Of course, anything." Craig agrees, and smiles.

"Were you telling me the truth when you said you never met that blond guy?"

Craig hesitates for only a moment before answering, "Yes, I have never met that guy." Craig doesn't feel like he's lying, since jerking off to a picture isn't the same as actually knowing someone.

"Ngh, and since you're my boyfriend and everything, Craig. You need to promise to stay away from him, okay?"

When Craig doesn't answer right away, Tweek opens his eyes to see Craig staring down at him with a strange look on his face. When their eyes meet, Craig smiles softly, and says, "Okay. I guess that is fair."

**####End of Chapter 13#####**

And the party drags on to be continued in Chapter 14. Thanks for reading!


	14. Whoops!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> Thank you to **fallingwthstyle** my Super Beta Hero who singlehandedly worked out all the issues I was having on this chapter, gave me some great ideas, and got me unstuck. Thanks for making this chapter 1000 times better! What would I do without you?
> 
> I also want to give special hugs to everyone at AO3 who helped me to hit over 100 Kudos with this story. I'd toss some confetti, but it's a bitch to clean up, so I'll just say thanks everyone!
> 
> ***Enjoy***

**Chapter 14: Whoops!**

 

**#######**

Cupid Me is antsy; with cigarette in hand, he flies back and forth from one end of his small office to the other. Reaching the other side he stops for just long enough to take a deep puff of nicotine, before turning around and flying back to the other side, and taking another puff.

"I can't stand this, I must know more!" he spits out suddenly, stopping mid-flight; he turns towards his surveillance console and peeks at his cameras which are all currently focused on the front gates of the Black Estate.

Earlier the parade of teens entering the estate was non-stop, but now traffic into Token's house has slowed. As Cupid Me stares into the monitor Ryan Ellis and Filmore Anderson show up on skateboards, bringing a faint smile to the little cupid's frustrated face.

"Teehee, those two are rather interesting aren't they, such a nice friendship. I hate to admit it, but sometimes friendship can be much better than love... Perhaps I need one of those-" Suddenly stopping mid-sentence the cupid's smile fades, "But who is going to want to be friends with a loser like me?"

On the screen in front of him, Ryan and Filmore walk up the stairs, but before they enter the house Filmore says something to Ryan causing the older boy to grin big and aim a friendly punch at the younger boy's shoulder. Both boys are laughing as they disappear into the large house.

Cupid Me reaches a decision, "Nothing is going to change if I keep floating around here feeling sorry for myself. I might be a bit out of practice, but that house is filled with opportunity, it's about time to get back to work!"

Floating down to his ashtray, he stubs out his cigarette, and then he picks up his small quiver and stuffs it full of arrows. Slinging it over his shoulder he picks up his bow and flies out of the office.

**####**

In an attempt to ignore the irritating blond at his side, Thomas stares across the pool at the crowd of people milling around the barbeque. That side of the backyard looks unpleasantly crowded, and Thomas doesn't see Kyle anywhere, so perhaps he was successful in rescuing Stan from Kitchen duty.

Over at the picnic table, Kyle's brother, Ike, whispers into his non-boyfriend's ear, and when the pretty boy smiles his whole face lights up, and Thomas unintentionally smiles too. When Ike places a quick kiss on the boy's lips, apparently not caring who might see, he confirms what Thomas suspected all along. Kyle is in for a big surprise.

With a sigh, Thomas returns his attention to Kenny, who was apparently watching him this whole time, but instead of his normal smart ass grin, right now he is wearing a very gentle smile that makes Thomas' heart speed up just a tiny bit. For a brief moment Kenny stares pointedly into Thomas' eyes, and then the annoying grin returns.

"Are you hungry?" Kenny asks, while standing up and offering Thomas his hand.

"I'm not," Thomas starts to say, however since he'd felt too uncomfortable to finish his earlier meal, his stomach disagrees and growls noisily causing Kenny to chuckle.

Feeling a little foolish, Thomas pulls his feet from the pool and quickly uses the towel Kyle left behind to dry them off, before slipping into his sneakers, pulling on his T-shirt, and standing up, ignoring Kenny's hand.

"Come on," Kenny says, and grabs him by the hand anyway. Against his will Thomas is pulled into the house through a side door, and led to a large kitchen which is only slightly less crowded than the rest of the first floor.

The kitchen counters are packed high with various types of foods, and everything looks and smells delicious. Thomas' stomach speaks up again, causing Kenny to snicker quietly as he picks up an empty red plastic plate, and hands it to Thomas, before grabbing another for himself.

"You're not a vegetarian?" Kenny asks, and when Thomas shakes his head he smiles and plops a thick piece of meat on Thomas' plate.

"You were eating tofu earlier, so I thought I better ask." Kenny grins and starts filling his own plate.

"Stan's an excellent cook, but he makes everything medium well, so I hope that's cool for you." Kenny holds out a scoop of potato salad, which Thomas stares at for a moment, before nodding.

"Corn," Kenny gestures to a plate of corn on the cob, smothered in butter and spices, but Thomas shakes his head, and grabs himself a scoop of coleslaw instead.

"This is good," Thomas decides, but Kenny smiles and places a vegetable skewer on Thomas' plate.

"You need a balanced diet," Kenny insists, as he picks up a plate of garlic bread, and offers it to Thomas.

"No thanks," Thomas declines, but Kenny pops a piece on his plate anyway.

"Dude, Clyde can't cook for shit, but his garlic bread is amazing, and since I'm eating some you need to have some too, otherwise when I kiss you later you'll notice my garlic breath," Kenny tells him while placing two pieces on his own plate.

"You will not be kissing me later." Thomas glowers at him.

"We'll see about that," Kenny says cockily, and flashes that stupid grin again.

 _'This guy's such an idiot! He can't possibly know that I'm Damien's lover, or he wouldn't be hitting on me so hard, right?_ ' Deciding this must be the case, Thomas tosses his fake grin back on his face, and decides to at least try to enjoy this mouth-watering meal.

Kenny reaches into a huge refrigerator.

"Are you cool with more beer, or would you rather have something else?"

"Beer is fine," Thomas decides, and Kenny pulls out two bottles, picks up his plate, and gestures at Thomas. "Grab some napkins and silverware and follow me, it's too crowded in here."

Kenny leads Thomas through the house to the entrance hall. The stairway is roped off, with a sign that says 'No Entry', but Kenny ignores this. He sits the beers down so he can pull open the rope, and gestures Thomas past, before replacing it, grabbing the beers again, and moving up the stairs.

"Only Token's closest friends are allowed upstairs," Kenny explains, so Thomas assumes that makes Kenny one of those friends.

To Thomas' surprise, the second floor hallway is deserted. There are three doors to the right, and four to the left, and all seven are currently closed.

Kenny juggles his plate and the beers, so he can turn the knob on one of the doors, and it pushes open. He enters the room, but Thomas holds back when he notices the room is a bedroom.

"This is someone's bedroom," Thomas points out uneasily, he's doesn't like the idea of traipsing through someone's private rooms, nor does he like the idea of being alone in a bedroom with Damien's ex.

"This is actually a guest room, the family bedrooms are further down the hall. There are also a few guest rooms downstairs, but those are probably all full by now," Kenny explains, but that doesn't change the fact that this is still a bedroom. "Dude, I'm not trying to get you into bed, at least not yet, the upstairs patio is this way." Kenny grins and cocks his head toward the sliding glass door in the back of the room.

"You're never getting me into bed." Thomas shakes his head.

"We'll see about that." Kenny chuckles.

_'Seriously, what the fuck did Damien see in this idiot?'_

Kenny escorts Thomas to a modest outdoor patio with a small dining table, a few lounge chairs, and a ton of plants.

After Kenny sits down at one end of the table Thomas takes a seat at the other end, as far away as possible, which still isn't far since the table is pretty small. Popping open one of the bottles of beers, Kenny slides it across to Thomas.

"Thanks," Thomas mumbles, and starts to eat.

"My pleasure," Kenny tells him, before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a lighter, and standing up to light the small candle that sits in the middle of the table. He then sneakily picks up his plate, and reseats himself right next to Thomas. Thomas rolls his eyes, but keeps chewing. He is actually feeling a lot more relaxed now, and being away from the crowd means less chance of running into Craig, which is certainly a plus.

Biting into his piece of garlic bread, Thomas is annoyed to discover that Kenny is right. The whole meal is very tasty, but the bread is actually the best part, it has a light dusting of parmesan cheese, and is seasoned and cooked perfectly. After finishing off his own slice, he casually reaches across the table to steal Kenny's second piece.

"I told you." Kenny looks at him happily, and Thomas shoves a forkful of food into his mouth to keep himself from smiling at the foolish blond.

**#######################**

"This is not good." Cupid Me decides as he floats through Token's front door and surveys the huge crowd.

It has been a long time since he's been in such a large group of people, and although he can easily fly above the crowd, the air simply reeks from the stench of so many horny teenaged party goers, all of them desperate for love.

"I didn't bring nearly enough arrows." Cupid Me sighs, as he searches the room trying to decide where to start.

"Oh crap! I should have known that 'he' would be here!" Cupid Me grumbles as he spots Butters drunkenly stumble past, crawl under the rope at the bottom of the stairs, and head up to the second floor, still crawling on all fours, because the boy is simply too drunk to find his way back to his feet.

Cupid Me doesn't like Butters, the little blond has a one-sided crush on Eric, which makes Butters his rival in love. Suddenly hit by a moment of pure inspiration, Cupid Me hurries after Butters.

"Teeheehee, Teehee, you'll never get one of my magic arrows of love, but I'm still going to pee in your mouth, you little bastard!"

**########################**

Kenny doesn't speak much during their meal, but his blue eyes continue to observe Thomas unrelentingly. Thomas keeps his eyes focused on his food, which is too good not to finish, but once his plate is empty he decides he's had enough. Pushing his plate away, he wipes his lips with a napkin, and stands up, deciding it's time for him to say goodbye to Kyle and head home. His phone is turned off, because he's avoiding Damien's calls, but he is certain that Damien will be home by now, and Thomas would like to avoid more punishment if he can help it.

"You're not thinking of leaving are you?" Kenny reads his mind, and grabs ahold of his wrist lightly. "You haven't even had dessert yet, stay a little longer."

"Dessert?" Thomas grumbles, ready to knock him on his ass at even the hint of a cheesy comment.

"What do you like?" Kenny asks while standing up. Instead of letting go of Thomas' wrist he grabs on tighter. "The Black family has a sweet tooth, and a pantry that's the size of the house I grew up in. I kid you not, you name it, they probably have it."

"I'm fine." Thomas steps back, but Kenny follows, his eyes locked on to Thomas' face. Thomas peers back, finding it difficult to look away. Kenny's eyes are an unusual color of blue and his tanned face is nearly flawless, except for a small thin scar that runs across one eyebrow. Thomas starts to reach out, wanting to touch that single imperfection, but he catches himself and pulls his hand away.

 _'This is Damien's ex!'_ Thomas reminds himself. _'He's the same asshole who sent you that filthy fucking photo!'_

Kenny is undeniably attractive, but what does Damien see in him? Damien likes blonds, but he's only attracted to guys with problems, but Kenny is so laid back, like he doesn't have a care in the world. Was it simply his looks, or does Kenny have a dirty dark secret? Perhaps something that Thomas can exploit?

This time, when Kenny moves closer, Thomas doesn't step back, instead he allows him to lean in, Thomas shivers as Kenny brushes his lips against his ear seductively.

"Honey Jalapeño Pickle Ice Cream," Kenny whispers, then pulls back and resumes staring at Thomas with a look of curiosity.

"What?" Thomas asks, and purses his lips to keep from laughing out loud.

"Honey Jalapeño Pickle Ice Cream," Kenny repeats. "Have you tried it?"

"You're making that up," Thomas accuses.

"Am I?" Kenny wonders, and Thomas is certain that he is.

"It sounds disgusting."

"It's not, I assure you. There's some in the freezer, you're going to love it." Letting go of Thomas' wrist, Kenny collects their empty dishes, and deposits them in a wastebasket.

"Oh, I don't suppose you like video games?" Kenny asks as he leans over the table to blow out the candle.

"Doesn't everyone?" Thomas asks, since even Damien likes to play a video game every now and then.

"Good answer, come with me, you're going to love this." Kenny requests, and although Thomas is thinking that he really should leave soon, he still gets up and follows Kenny back through the bedroom to the hall.

 _'This is all about getting dirt on Kenny McCormick!'_ Thomas reminds himself.

**######**

Cupid Me has a large grin on his face as he exits the bathroom. Butters is inside, passed out on the floor in front of the toilet. Not only did Cupid Me pee in his mouth, he also left the blond with two handfuls of Cupid Me's special fudgy charms of sunshine.

"Serves you right, you little home wrecker! Teehee Teeheehee." Cupid Me giggles, as he heads up the hall, but he stops when the door in front of him opens up and Kenny and Thomas step out.

Forgetting all about Butters, Cupid Me watches Kenny lead a sour faced Thomas down the hall to another room. Although Kenny is obviously enamored, Thomas seems totally uninterested.

"Oh my, it's a good thing I showed up. Teeheehee, Thomas just needs a little spark of magic!" Cupid Me decides, pulling out an arrow he flies down the hall.

**#######**

Kenny stops in front of a door right next to the staircase, pushes it open and steps inside.

"Token has a fucking awesome game collection, you can pick something out for us to play while I get the ice cream." Thomas follows Kenny into a room containing a large sectional couch, an expensive leather Zoe lounge chair, a huge flat screen TV, several video games systems, and an entire wall full of bookcases filled with games. Kenny is right, the room is pretty much a gamer's wet dream.

The room is empty except for the two teens on the couch. One, a very thin blond, is laying on the couch with his eyes closed, and his head on the other boy's lap. The other, has thick dark hair, dazzling blue eyes, and his fingers wrapped in the blond boy's messy hair.

"Hey, Craig, I hope we're not disturbing you two," Kenny says quietly, "It's a little crazy down there, so we thought we'd hang out up here; fucking Clyde must have invited half the town."

The blond opens his eyes, and smiles softly, "Oh, hi Kenny."

"Hey, Tweek. Did we wake you?"

"Gah- Nah, I wasn't actually sleeping, I had a headache, but I'm feeling a little better now, and-" Tweek stops talking the moment his eyes fall on Thomas. The smile drops from his lips, replaced by something much less friendly, but Thomas barely notices Tweek, because his eyes are locked upon Craig Tucker.

Thomas' heart drops into his stomach, and his knees start to shake. This is definitely Craig Tucker, and holy fuck does he look good!

Craig is gazing right into his eyes, and Thomas is certain that he recognizes him, because he looks just as shocked as Thomas feels.

"This is Thomas, he just moved to town. Thomas, these guys are Tweek and Craig. We've known each other since kindergarten." Kenny introduces them, but Thomas barely registers that he's talking, because at the moment he can barely breath.

Ignoring everyone else in the room, while inhaling deeply in an effort to calm his nerves, Thomas pulls himself together, and flashes Craig his sexiest smile.

Craig's eyes open up a little wider, and his sunburned cheeks grow redder, the message was received loud and clear. Thomas watches as Craig swallows nervously. Craig's response is enough to boost Thomas' confidence.

"Hello Craig, it's great to see you again." Thomas blurts out, and unconsciously nips at his bottom lip as he waits for Craig to reply.

Craig remains silent, staring at Thomas with something like bewilderment. His blue eyes focused on Thomas' quivering lips.

Tweek is the one who finally speaks. He sits up and scoots possessively close to Craig, before taking a hold of his hand, and glaring up at him. "Gah- you promised, Craig!" he calls out in a tight brittle whisper.

As if a spell is broken, Craig blinks and looks down at Tweek; at first he looks confused, then ashamed, and then all emotions fade away. When he looks up again, he avoids Thomas' eyes.

"Do we know each other, dude?" Craig asks in a voice so cold it makes Thomas shiver.

"Apparently not," Thomas mumbles under his breath, but he continues to stare unable to peel his eyes away. He wants Craig! Even after all these years, he still wants him, he wants his best friend back!

"Thomas, why don't you come downstairs with me," Kenny suggests calmly. He has no idea what is going on, but the tension in the room is overwhelming, and he's worried because Thomas looks to be on the verge of a serious breakdown.

"ASSHOLE" Thomas calls out involuntarily, but he's so worked up that he doesn't even notice it. Craig looks up at him again, their eyes lock, and Thomas sees it, Craig knows him! He knows!

"Thomas?" Kenny reaches out for his hand, but Thomas avoids him, and steps closer to Craig.

"No, I'm not going anywhere!" Thomas hisses, Craig does remember him, it's written all over his face, but for some reason he's lying about it.

 _'Say you remember me!_ ' Thomas screams out in his head, but Tweek squeezes Craig's hand tightly, causing Craig to break eye contact, and focus back on Tweek.

_'Say you remember me, God damn it!'_

Thomas snaps. His body starts trembling, and sweat beads up on his forehead. He puts one hand to his chest, because it hurts so much. His heart pounds so hard and fast that it feels like it will rip from his body. He struggles to breathe as the room starts twisting around him. For the first time in years, he feels the panic completely take over.

...Thomas is ten years old again, standing beside Damien in the snow across the street from City Wok, watching jealously as Craig Tucker is stolen from him.

 _"Craig admitted to being gay in front of the whole school, I saw it myself. They've been secretly together since 3rd grade, but they almost broke up because Craig was cheating on Tweek with some guy named Michael."_ Thomas remembers Damien's words as if it was just yesterday.

... The memory passes as quickly as it came, but the feeling of overwhelming grief remains, sending Thomas completely over the edge.

"Unfaithful asshole, Craig Tucker is a cheat and a liar!" Thomas mumbles in confusion... his brain registers something small as it whizzes past, and slices across his shoulder; he blinks, but nothing is there.

"COCK-SHIT-ASSHOLE-BITCH" The words spill from Thomas' lips, and his mind slams back to reality.

Thomas' frightened eyes fill with tears, and his hands fly up to cover his lips.

"No way! It's not possible, no fucking way!" Thomas' mumbles through his hands.

"FUCK-COCK-BITCH" Everyone in the room is looking at him now, Kenny and Tweek are looking, and so is Craig! Craig's eyes are staring at Thomas in shock, one hand still holds on to Tweek tightly, but the other rubs at his chest mindlessly.

"Laundry-" Craig mumbles dazedly, followed by "Thomas?"

It's obvious, Craig might not have recognized him before, but he certainly does now!

Thomas can't handle the look in his eyes.

_'I have to get out of here!'_

Thomas rushes for the door, flinging it open, and flying out of the room.

######

Cupid Me floats in the corner of Token's family room with his mouth gaping wide open and his small bow laying on the floor.

"What did I just do?"

**###########**

When Cupid Me had flown into the room a few moments ago, he had happily cocked his bow and was about to send an arrow of love through the air towards Thomas, when he noticed Tweek and Craig were also in the room, and he got pulled into the drama. The way that Thomas was looking at Craig was strangely familiar, and suddenly everything got weird. When Thomas' heart flashed back to that day seven years ago, he took Cupid Me's heart along for the ride.

Cupid Me suddenly remembered that he was also there that day, his memory was so bad that he'd completely forgotten. That day was the first time that Cupid Me had ever laid eyes on Thomas and Damien. Thomas had been so heartbroken over Tweek and Craig, and it had made Cupid Me feel so sad, so when Damien bent down to give Thomas a little kiss, Cupid Me decided to help Damien along, by shooting Thomas with a love arrow.

 _'Oh shit!'_ Cupid Me panicked, as he realized that what he was about to do was all wrong, _'Regardless of what Kenny might feel for Thomas, Thomas is meant for the boss, and I can't let Thomas love Kenny back.'_

But he remembered too late, the arrow flew from his bow, but since Cupid Me was distracted, as well as out of practice, it veered off its mark. The arrow barely managed to graze its intended target, before bouncing off to strike Craig Tucker directly in the heart.

"OH CRAP! I DID NOT MEAN TO DO THAT!" Cupid Me screamed, at the same time that Thomas shouted, "COCK-SHIT-ASSHOLE-BITCH"

Dropping his bow he watched in horror as Thomas panicked and ran out of the room followed by Kenny.

**###########**

Cupid Me regains his senses and peers around the room. Craig sits silently staring straight ahead _. 'Is he looking at the spot where Thomas once stood, or is he staring at me?... Can he see me? No, that's impossible.'_

Tweek is staring up at Craig, and the look on his face makes the little cupid shiver. The look of love that Cupid Me witnessed earlier is now gone, replaced by jealousy, anger, and pain... yes that is most certainly pain. This is the same couple who were a little confused, but happy earlier, but now they both look broken.

Cupid Me flies down to the floor and retrieves his bow. Cupid Me doesn't stick around for what happens next, he flies out of the room, ignoring Kenny and Thomas as he passes them, and heads out the front door.

"This is horrible," Cupid mumbles to himself as he flies down the street. Not only is Kenny in love with Thomas, the boss's true soulmate, but now Craig Tucker will fall in love with Thomas too... or since the arrow was sent with Kenny as the intended love interest, will Craig fall for Kenny instead? And what about Tweek and Craig? Cupid Me has made a very grave error.

"What the fuck do I do? I'm a disgrace as a cupid, and the boss is going to kill me for sure!"

**###############**

"Thomas, wait!" Kenny's voice is calling out from behind him, but Thomas doesn't stop.

Thomas rushes out the entranceway doors into Token's front yard.

_'This can't be happening! I'm healed, Damien healed me.'_

"Thomas!" Kenny is coming after him, but that's the last thing that he needs right now, he cuts over the grassy lawn heading for the front gate.

"Leave me alone! Please, just leave me alone!" Thomas calls out, "BITCH-BITCH-ASSHOLE"

It's too much, the anxiety is too strong, he'll never make it home in this condition, he needs to calm down. As he comes upon the small empty guard house, Thomas stops and places one hand up against it, leaning forward and trying to catch his breath.

"COCK"

Biting down on his tongue, so hard it draws blood, Thomas tries to remember the calming exercise he used to do as a child.

_'I just want to go home, Damien I'm afraid, I need you!'_

"Thomas, calm down."

But the strong pair of arms that wrap around him from behind do not belong to Damien, they belong to the enemy!

"Leave me the fuck alone! Please, just go away!" Thomas begs, and turns to face Kenny. "SHIT-SHIT"

Wetness is pouring down his face, is he fucking crying now? How fucking humiliating can things get?

"Just relax!" Kenny commands, and Thomas tries to squirm out of his arms, but Kenny is much stronger than he looks, and Thomas cannot break away.

"Let me go!" Thomas glares at him, but instead Kenny raises his hand and brushes his fingers softly against Thomas' cheek. "Don't! COCK-SHIT-SHIT"

"Shhh! Everything will be alright!" Kenny shushes him, pulling him even closer, and brushing away his tears, while staring into his eyes captivatingly. Thomas stops fighting. This feeling is so familiar, it reminds him of Damien, but this isn't Damien, it's too fucking gentle to be Damien!

"BITCH-FUCK" Thomas starts to struggle again, causing Kenny to tighten his grip.

Kenny lowers his lips over Thomas' mouth and kisses him gently. Thomas turns his head away, trying to escape, but Kenny follows his lips and captures them again in a soft and agonizingly loving kiss.

"Why!" Thomas cries out, when Kenny breaks the kiss just for a moment, before diving back in. This time Thomas doesn't move away, because it feels too good. Kenny's kiss feels calm, it feels safe, and Thomas needs this! Nothing Thomas has ever known has felt this warm and right.

 _'Fuck!'_ Thomas screams out in his head, _'this can't be, it shouldn't feel like this! I shouldn't be responding like this.'_

Kenny kisses him slowly, his fingers running gently up and down his back soothingly, and Thomas relaxes into Kenny's chest, his lips open slightly to allow Kenny's tongue inside, and his arms reach up to wrap around his neck.

**#########################**

After Thomas fled and Kenny flew after him, Tweek sat on the couch staring up at Craig, and waiting for him to explain exactly what just happened, but Craig didn't explain anything.

Instead, Craig continued to silently stare straight ahead at the spot where Thomas once stood. The look on Craig's face was impossible to interpret.

 _'Craig is a big stinking liar!'_ Tweek finally decides, and he's had enough of this, so he puts all of his frustration into his fist, and he punches Craig in the arm hard.

"Ouch, that fucking hurt!" Yeah that worked, Craig is looking at him now.

"I'm going home, are you coming?" Standing up Tweek starts to leave, and doesn't look back, after a moment Craig stands up and follows.

**##End of Chapter 14######**

Just a heads up, it is very likely that the next chapter will take a while. I am moving next month, need to figure out where, and get all my ducks in a row, so I am not certain what that will mean to my update schedule. I will attempt to find the time and motivation to put out one last chapter, before my life goes nuts, but I don't want to promise anything, since the upcoming months are looking pretty crazy.

We are about halfway through the story, and I would love to hear what everyone thinks, so speak to me, just be gentle!


	15. We need to talk!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to everyone for reading! Thanks for the kudos, follows, and favorites. A special thank you to everyone who took the additional step and left comments or reviews.
> 
> Thank you to fallingwthstyle for the beta help, but also for your friendship and inspiration.
> 
> I should probably point out that I am still on hiatus, but as I mentioned to some of you, I will continue to write whenever I get a moment of free time, and I will update as often as I can. I simply don't know if that means next month or two months from now, so everything remains on hiatus until I get myself settled again, and I can properly schedule myself.
> 
> ****Enjoy****

**Chapter 15: We need to talk!**

 

####

"What the fuck?" Craig mumbles under his breath; his thoughts are a mess as he trudges downstairs after Tweek. _'Was that guy really Thomas? Seriously? Where in the hell has he been all of this time?_ '

The party is still going strong, the first floor even more packed than it was earlier, but Tweek doesn't reach for the comfort of Craig's hand, nor does he slow to allow Craig to catch up. Right now he's pissed off, and a pissed off Tweek is a force to be reckoned with. So instead he firmly shoves his way through the packed house, his eyes searching around until he spots who he is looking for. He heads that way, leaving Craig to follow behind.

"Tweek, wait up," Craig calls out, but Tweek ignores him. "Shit!" Craig grumbles as he nearly collides with Annie Knitts, and her plastic cup splashes beer across Craig's shirt.

"Sorry," Annie apologizes sheepishly.

"Fuck Annie, be more careful!" Craig glares at her, but doesn't stop because he doesn't want to lose track of Tweek.

Token and Clyde are seated at the dining room table with Bebe, Wendy, Stan and Kyle. In the center of the table several plastic cups of beer are lined up, along with a pile of silver coins.

"Hey it's Tweek and Craig," Clyde calls out drunkenly, "Perfect timing! We're about to start a game of quarters, get over here and take a seat."

"We're leaving, but thank you for inviting us," Tweek answers politely, his anger momentary put on hold as he addresses their friends. "It was fun."

Tweek's surprisingly calm voice and tender smile draws all of Craig's attention, overshadowing his own worries. Tonight's party was most certainly not fun; Tweek is livid, and barely holding it together, but Tweek Tweak is thoughtful and kind, and he would never think of leaving a party without thanking the hosts. So instead he's acting, he doesn't do it often, because he hates acting, which is really a shame, because Tweek is an amazing actor.

 _'This is what I love about him!'_ The feeling is powerful, a mixture of pride, warmth, and devotion that causes Craig's heart to swell.

"You can't leave this early, we-" Clyde starts to complain, but Token has always been better at reading people, so he cuts in, "Thanks for coming, Tweek, I hope it wasn't too uncomfortable for you. I didn't expect the party to get this big." This last part is addressed with raised eyebrows towards Clyde, which causes a genuine smile to replace Tweek's pretend one.

"Ngh- That's okay, thanks for having us, and if you need help cleaning up tomorrow let us know."

"Thanks, bro," Token smiles back, "but Clyde's going to spring for a clean up crew." This is obviously news to Clyde, who looks like he wants to object, but he doesn't.

That taken care of, Tweek turns and starts to make his way back through the crowd, but before he can move too far away, Craig reaches out, and grabs his shoulder causing Tweek to stop in his tracks and look up at him. Craig looks into his eyes for a moment; he has so much he wants to say, so many things swirling around in his mind, but instead of speaking he pulls Tweek forward and wraps his arms around him, hugging him tightly. If Craig was better with words, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. After a moment he releases Tweek, and gazes down at him affectionately, before grabbing a hold of his hand. Tweek lets out a soft tired sigh, and allows Craig to lead him back through the crowd to the front door.

**###**

As they head up the walkway towards the front gate, Craig spots Kenny and Thomas making out against the guard house. Thomas' arms are wrapped around Kenny's neck, and Craig watches with wide eyes as Kenny slides one hand up under the side of Thomas' T-shirt, briefly revealing Thomas' toned waist.

Hearing Tweek huff, before letting go of his hand and angrily stomping away, Craig frowns, curses his own stupidity, and rushes after him. When he catches up at the streetlight, he tries to recapture Tweek's hand, but Tweek pulls away from him.

_'Fuck, I pissed him off again!'_

Tweek obviously doesn't like Thomas, why else would he ask Craig to stay away from him earlier? But why? It's not like Craig is his 'real' boyfriend, so Tweek shouldn't be jealous, right? Ah, but Craig is Tweek's best friend, and Thomas used to be Craig's best friend, so perhaps he's worried that Thomas will come between them... Craig can understand that type of thinking, he wouldn't let anyone or anything come between their friendship either...

_'Regardless, I need to fix this!'_

Craig swallows hard, and tries to force an apology out, but he only manages to choke out, "I'm so-" before Tweek glares at him in annoyance, and looks away. However after a moment Tweek reaches his hand out. Sighing in relief, Craig grabs it and holds it firmly.

They remain silent, not speaking at all during the rest of the walk home. Tweek wants to bring up the subject of Thomas, but he's afraid to learn the truth, and Craig wants to apologize, but he's not completely certain how to start. As they turn the corner and cross over to the side of the road that leads to Tweek's house, Tweek suddenly jumps and pulls his hand out of Craig's grasp.

"T-Tweek?" Craig sputters in surprise, but relaxes when Tweek pulls out his cell phone, and peeks at the screen with a scowl, before putting it to his ear.

"Hi Dad," Tweek stops walking, his face growing darker by the second, and causing Craig to worry. "Ngh- Yeah, of course I can open again tomorrow, but it's-" Cut off by his father on the other end of the phone line, Tweek starts nibbling on his bottom lip, and his fingers holding the phone tremble slightly as he listens to whatever Richard has to say. "It's just I thought you were coming home tonight," Tweek gripes, but when he catches Craig watching him closely, he suddenly straightens up and finds his resolve. "It's fine, I can handle it, see you tomorrow afternoon."

Hanging up, Tweek shoves his phone back into the pocket of his shorts, and starts walking again, an obvious black cloud hanging over his head.

"Are mom and pop okay?" Craig asks, following after Tweek.

"Yeah, they just decided to stay another night," Tweek grumbles, causing Craig to nod. Tweek doesn't like being alone at night, Craig understands that, and under normal circumstances Tweek would have already invited Craig to a sleepover, but tonight has been anything but normal.

"Do you want to stay at my house tonight?" Craig decides that is the best idea, Tweek won't have to be alone, and Craig's family being home should keep Craig's sex demons at bay. Plus it's the perfect way to distract Tweek, and earn his forgiveness.

Tweek is silent for moment, peering at Craig, and biting his lip, before whispering cutely, "Oh man, is it really alright, your parents won't mind?"

"Yeah, it will be fine, you know my parents love it when you're around. My mom would kidnap you if she thought she could get away with it."

"Being kidnapped is too much pressure." Tweek mumbles under his breath, causing Craig to chuckle.

"Don't worry, you're my boyfriend, so I'll protect you," Craig's says, and reclaims Tweek's hand.

#####

"Mum...mum..." Feeling lightheaded, and completely out of breath, Thomas mumbles and tears his lips away from Kenny's kiss.

Kenny barely allows him to catch his breath, before grabbing him by the chin and sinking his tongue back into Thomas' mouth, "Mum... mum mumm!" Kenny mumbles back, and reaches over with one hand to turn the knob on the guardhouse door, and push it open. He casually tries to lead Thomas inside, but Thomas immediately breaks their kiss and wiggles out of Kenny's grasp.

"What are you doing?" Thomas asks, while taking a peek inside the empty guard house, which looks small, cramped, and unfurnished except for a long padded bench just barely wide enough to fit two people.

"I thought it might be more comfortable in there, but maybe not. It's just I could kiss you all night, but I've been on my feet most of the day, and I'm a little tired of standing up," Kenny says, and pulls Thomas back into his arms. Nuzzling against Thomas' neck, he whispers. "We could go back to the guest bedroom."

"Not on your life!" Thomas sputters crossly.

"Okay, then, right here is fine," Kenny pushes Thomas back against the guard house, kissing across his cheek, and back to his lips, but Thomas turns his head away, before slipping out of Kenny's arms.

"I need to go home," Thomas decides.

"Already?" Kenny pouts, and when Thomas nods, Kenny grins, "Okay, let me go grab my things, and I can walk you home."

"NO!" Thomas shakes his head.

"No?" Kenny says unhappily at first, but he quickly recovers. "Well, when can I see you again? Are you busy tomorrow?"

"I am busy tomorrow... and I can't see you again. It's not possible," Thomas tells him, and is surprised at how disappointed he feels from his own words.

"Don't say that," Kenny says, reaching out and brushing a stray lock of hair away from Thomas' eyes.

 _'I have someone... a lover. I already have a lover.'_ The words are on the tip of his tongue, but before they make it to his lips, Kenny grins, and Thomas is once again reminded that he's dealing with the enemy, and Kenny doesn't deserve honesty.

Kenny leans in, kissing him softly, before whispering. "I'll be at the skate park again tomorrow morning. The one next to the rec center where we met. Go home, get some rest and dream of me, then cancel whatever plans you have tomorrow and come find me."

Before Thomas can reply, Kenny pulls away, turns his back and heads towards the house. Thomas watches him, feeling strangely lonely now that Kenny's warmth is gone. Exhaling deeply, Thomas pulls himself together and heads for home.

######

"Looks like everyone is already asleep," Craig points out, while placing one finger to his lips and nodding towards his younger sister, who is sprawled out on the living room sofa having fallen asleep while watching Gilmore Girls reruns on the Flatscreen.

Tweek closes the front door quietly, and smiles as he watches Craig pick up the throw blanket from the end of the couch and place it over his sister, before shutting the TV off.

"Go on upstairs, I'll grab us a snack and be right up," Craig whispers.

Tweek nods, excited at the idea of a snack, since he skipped lunch, and completely forgot about dinner. Smiling he heads up the stairs and pushes open the door to Craig's room. Inside the room he flips the light switch on the wall, before walking to the window and turning on Craig's small window fan to bring the cool night air in. Opening Craig's closet he pulls out the sleeping bag and pillow that he uses whenever he sleeps at Craig's, and quickly unrolls it on the floor next to Craig's large bed. His bedding preparations complete, he steals Craig's body pillow from his bed, before plopping down on the floor and relaxing back against the bed.

It is only then that he takes a moment to think, but once he does the smile drops completely from his lips, and his eyes fill with irritation.

"GAAAH! He got me again! Craig distracted me!" Tweek calls out in annoyance. It's been like this since 4th Grade, Craig does something wrong, Tweek gets mad, instead of apologizing Craig does something nice, and Tweek forgets all about being mad, but not this time!

The door swings open, and Craig carries in a tray table full of food and drinks.

"Rrrrr! Craig, We need to talk!" Tweek blurts out heatedly, causing Craig to tense up momentarily.

"You're right," Craig mumbles in a low guilty voice; bending down he sits the tray down on the floor in front of Tweek and drops down to sit next to him. "But you need to eat something first," Craig insists, "We missed dinner, sorry about that, and Stan was cooking too."

Since he's starving, Tweek decides not to argue, and instead looks down at the tray of food to see what Craig brought.

"Leftover lasagna, mom made your favorite," Craig says, and hands Tweek a fork.

"Ngh- How did she know I was coming?" Tweek wonders with a hint of a smile, before digging in and taking a large bite.

"Hey, you can't eat it all, you need to share," Craig teases, and Tweek smirks and holds out a tiny forkful for Craig to take a bite. This is another thing that Craig adores about Tweek, the fact that he never stays angry for long.

Craig feels content as he watches Tweek hungrily devour his mom's cooking. Tweek isn't a big eater, which is one of the reasons he is so very thin, but there are certain things that he really likes and will happily stuff himself on. Craig's mom's lasagna is one, so Craig's mother cooks it in large batches, and freezes it especially for Tweek's visits.

Unlike mom and pop Tweak, Craig's parents lifted the sleeping together rule after Craig turned 16. Thomas Tucker pulled Craig aside, presented him with a box of condoms, and told him that he needed to be safe. Then he patted Craig on the head, and left him alone, completely clueless, and seriously humiliated.

Regardless of how lenient Craig's parents might be, Tweek has never once slept in Craig's large bed. Tweek has his own sleeping bag, the one they are currently dining on, but as Craig watches Tweek happily gorging himself, he is hit with an overwhelmingly strong desire... He _wants_ Tweek to sleep beside him, he wants to hold him, and he desperately wants to kiss him.

 _'I'm in love with Tweek, and I have to protect him.'_ Craig swallows hard and his blue eyes start to tear up.

Tweek deserves a _real_ romantic relationship... This fake boyfriend thing, it's gotten out of hand and it needs to end. If he can't be Tweek's real boyfriend then they need to break up and stay friends. This way Tweek can find a proper girlfriend... The very idea of some faceless girl kissing Tweek, or even holding his hand, causes Craig's stomach to turn, and his heart to ache, but he needs to think about what is best for Tweek.

... and then there is Thomas... Craig promised he would stay away from him, but that was before he knew who he was! Now that he knows, he's certain that he can't stay away, because Thomas is his friend. At the very least, he wants to speak to Thomas one more time, to find out why he disappeared all those years ago, but Craig doesn't want to lie to Tweek ever again, so he needs to explain about Thomas... Craig glances over to his desk where his laptop sits... well, maybe not everything about Thomas, there are some things that a man needs to keep to himself.

With a long sigh, Craig twists the top off a bottle of water and hands it to Tweek to wash his food down. The plate of lasagna is empty, so Craig sets it aside, and uses a napkin to dab at a tiny speck of sauce on Tweek's chin. "Tweek, are you ready to talk?" He asks quietly.

Tweek's eyes widen, and he bites at his bottom lip, before nodding.

#######

Out of all of the room's within Damien's estate, Pip's room is perhaps the most beautiful and unique. Unlike the candelabra lit rooms that belong to Damien and Thomas, Pip's bedroom is large and bright, thanks to the teacup shaped wall sconces that decorate the wooden walls. If not for the large canopy bed that sits in the center, the room could easily be mistaken for an old fashioned toy store. A long antique train track circles around the bed, before continuing through a small gnome size hole in the wall and into the room beyond. The wall to wall shelves are filled with curious dolls and toys. In one corner a PS4 is attached to a Flatscreen TV that sits on a small table, surrounded by several big comfortable pillows that Pip uses for seating and sometimes napping. Truth be told, Pip outgrew these childish playthings long ago; however Damien enjoys buying toys for him, and Pip exists to make Damien happy, so Pip smiles sweetly and graciously accepts Damian's twisted generosity. There are, after all, many things about Pip that Damien does not need to know.

At the moment, Pip is just barely awake, lying in his large bed, with his head propped up against Damien's strong chest, as he listens as Damien reads out loud. With Thomas away, Pip is content to bask in Damien's attention. Damien holds the book in one hand, but his other lovingly strokes Pip's small back.

Through the open door, the sound of the elevator arriving is clearly heard, causing Damien to stop reading immediately, and set the book aside.

Before Damien can break away, Pip wraps his arms around him, making an obvious effort to stop him. It works, Damien relaxes, and returns his attention to Pip, but only for a moment.

"I thought you cured me!" Thomas hollers from the other room, and a moment later he is standing in the doorway glaring at Damien. Pip opens his tired eyes, finding this interesting. Thomas often pretends to be angry at Damien, but usually it is only an act, his own personal way of getting under Damien's skin, but now however he truly seems furious.

"What are you talking about?" Damien says with a frown, but makes no effort to leave Pip's side, which pleases Pip greatly.

"My Tourette syndrome, I thought you cured me, wasn't that our pact? You made me all better, and in return I do your bidding?"

"I did cure you."

"Well, nice work, because I had an attack tonight! I ran into Craig Tucker and I had a fucking attack! I am not better!"

Damien looks uneasy for just the briefest moment, but that is instantly replaced by exasperation. "You ran into Craig Tucker? Where were you tonight?"

"I went to a party, I did some PR for your club, that's my job, right?! What does it matter, you had to know we would run into each other eventually," Thomas spits out bitterly while refusing to look Damien in the eye, "Whatever, never mind, I'm going to bed, sleep with Pip tonight!"

Damien lets out an angry sigh, and pulls out of Pip's arms. He gets out of bed, but before he can go after Thomas Pip reaches out to stop him, shaking his head violently.

"Don't worry, Pip, I'm angry, but I won't hurt him. You can go to sleep."

###End of Chapter 15

See you in Chapter 16. I feel bad for leaving you with another cliffhanger, but I will try not to leave you waiting too long if I can help it.

**Author's Note:**

> Pairing notes: I always think too much info can spoil things, but for those who must know now. See below after spoiler warning.  
> S  
> P  
> O  
> I  
> L  
> E  
> R  
> Main Characters: CraigxTweek  
> Sub Characters: ThomasxKenny  
> Possible Triangles: DamienxAnyone he wants (who am I to say no to the Son of Satan)  
> Minor Triangles: Thomas+Craig, Pete+Tweek (Yes, I did say Pete, the chapters already written, but it probably doesn't count as a real triangle, still mentioning it just in case)  
> Possible Spin off romances: Ike+Firkle and anyone else who becomes interesting enough to warrant their own story.


End file.
